Dr Karen L Cheney
Position: ARC Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
-
2003 PhD Behavioural Ecology: ‘Interactions between cleaning gobies and territorial damselfish: costs, benefits and effects of scale', Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
- 1998 BSc Honors Biology with 1 year's professional experience, University of Manchester, UK
Research Interests: Coral reef fish mimicry, the role of colour in animal signaling, cleaning behaviour, ectoparasites.
Awards & Grants:
2006-2007 UQ Early Career Research Grant ‘ The role of bright colours in marine nudibranchs: aposematic or camouflage?'
2006-2008: ARC Discovery Grant, “ The function and maintenance of aggressive mimics: the cleaner fish-fangblenny system'.
2005-2006: Royal Society Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Queensland
2005: Fisheries Society British Isles Small Research Grant, ‘Role of colour in the communication between cleaner fish and their clients'.
2004: NERC Small Research Grant (Côté & Cheney) ‘Aggressive Mimicry of Fish'
2004: Royal Society Travel Grant to Australia
2000-2003: BBSRC 3-year PHD funding
Research Projects:
1. How reef fish mimics are maintained in coral reef ecosystems, including: the role of avoidance learning in aggressive mimicry, the importance of perceptual ability by duped individuals, the role of colour changes in mimicry.
2. Signal design in multispecific interactions; including whether clients in cleaning interactions recognise cleaner organisms by their colour.
3. The evolution and signal design of aposematically coloured nudibranchs.
 |
 |
 |
Adult cleaner wrasse |
A colourful Nudibranch | Orange fangblenny |
Publications:
Cheney, K.L., Grutter, A. S., Blomberg, S. P. Marshall, N. J. 2009 Blue and yellow signal cleaning behaviour in coral reef fishes. Current Biology, 19, 1-5.
Lettieri, L. B., Cheney, K. L., Mazel, C. H., Boothe, D., Marshall, N. J. and Streelman, J. T. (2009) Cleaner gobies evolve advertising stripes of higher contrast. Journal of Experimental Biology, 212, 2194-2203 (Cover image by K. Cheney).
Cheney, K.L., Skogh, C., Hart, N.S. & Marshall N. J. (2009) Mimicry, colour forms and spectral sensitivity of the bluestriped fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos. Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 276: 1565-1573.
Cheney, K.L . & Marshall N. J. (2009) Mimicry in coral reef fish: how accurate is this deception in terms of colour and luminance? Behavioral Ecology, 20 (3): 459-468.
Cheney, K.L., Bshary, R., Grutter, A.S. (2008) Cleaner fish cause predators to reduce aggression towards bystanders at cleaning stations. Behavioral Ecology, 19: 1063-1067.
Cheney, K. L. (2008) Non-kin egg cannibalism and group nest-raiding by Caribbean sergeant major damselfish (Abudefduf saxatilis). Coral Reefs 27: 115-115
Cheney, K.L. (2008) The role of avoidance learning in an aggressive mimicry system.
Behavioral Ecology, 19: 583-588.
Cheney, K.L., Eckes M.J. (2008) Cleaner fish clean cleaner mimics. Coral Reefs, 27(3): 527.
Cheney, K.L., Grutter A.S. & Marshall, N.J. (2008) Facultative mimicry: cues for colour change and colour accuracy in a coral reef fish. Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 275 (1631): 117-122
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. (2007) Aggressive mimics profit from a model-signal receiver mutualism. Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 274 (1622): 2087-2091
Côté, I.M. & Cheney, K.L. (2007) A protective function for aggressive mimicry? Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 274 (1624): 2445-2448
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. (2005) Frequency-dependent success of aggresive mimics in a cleaning symbiosis. Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 272 (1581): 2635-2639
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. (2005) Mutualism or parasitism? The variable outcome of cleaning symbioses. Biology Letters, 1 (2): 162-165
Côté, I. M. & Cheney, K.L. 2005. Choosing when to be a cleaner-fish mimic. Nature, 433: 211-212
Côté, I. M. & Cheney, K.L. 2004. Distance-dependent costs and benefits of aggressive mimicry in a cleaning symbiosis. Proceedings of Royal Society of London Series B -Biological Sciences, 271 (1557): 2627-2630
Sikkel, P., Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2004. In situ evidence for ectoparasites as the proximate cause of cleaning interactions in reef fish. Animal Behaviour, 68: 241-247
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2003d. Do ectoparasites determine cleaner fish abundance? Evidence on two spatial scales. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 263: 177-188
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2003c. The ultimate effect of being cleaned: does ectoparasite removal increase reproductive success in a damselfish client? Behavioral Ecology, 14: 892-896
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2003b. Indirect consequences of parental care: Sex differences in ectoparasite burden and cleaner-seeking activity in longfin damselfish. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 262: 267-275
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2003a. Habitat choice in adult longfin damselfish: territory characteristics and relocation times. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 287: 1-12
Cheney, K.L. & Côté, I.M. 2001. Are Caribbean cleaning symbioses mutualistic? Costs and benefits of visiting cleaning stations to longfin damselfish. Animal Behaviour, 62: 927-933
Kaiser MJ, Cheney K, Spence FE, Edwards DB, Radford K. 1999. Fishing effects in northeast Atlantic shelf seas: patterns in fishing effort, diversity and community structure VII. The effects of trawling disturbance on the fauna associated with the tubeheads of serpulid worms. Fisheries Research, 40 (2): 195-205
Contact Details: k.cheney@uq.edu.au
Link to personal webpage: http://profiles.bacs.uq.edu.au/Karen.Cheney.html
 |
 |
 |
| Removing parasites | Watching fangblennies |