Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Damian works in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University as an ARC Australian Research Fellow, Monash Fellow
Damian's research interests lie in evolutionary biology. The questions that his research group pursue follow three interconnected themes.
- Mitochondrial genome evolution What genetic processes shape the accumulation of functional genetic variation in the mitochondrial DNA? What are the consequences of maternal transmission of the mitochondrial DNA for male life-histories?
- Oxidative stress and life history evolution. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a ubiquitous bi-product of many core enzymmatic pathways, for instance those involved in energy production and immune defense. When ROS are in surplus, cells are at risk of oxidative damage. We are intereated in teasing apart the influence of oxidative stress on the general dynamics of life history evolution, including adaptation under sexual selection.
- Sexually antagonistic coevolution. We are generally interested in exploring the dynamics of adaptation under sexual conflict.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research area keywords
- Evolutionary biology
- Mitochondrial genomes
- Oxidative stress
- Sexual selection
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Diving into deep-time: macroevolutionary patterns of aquatic tetrapods
1/09/23 → 31/08/26
Project: Research
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Evolution of neo-sex chromosomes and their role in climate adaptation in an Australo-Papuan songbird family
Low, G. W., Sunnucks, P., Pavlova, A. & Dowling, D.
10/11/20 → 31/12/21
Project: Research
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Y chromosome-linked variation affects locomotor activity in male Drosophila melanogaster and is robust to differences in thermal environment
Layh, S., Nagarajan-Radha, V., Lemos, B. & Dowling, D. K., 13 Mar 2023, In: Heredity. 130, p. 312–319 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Effects of mitochondrial haplotype on pre-copulatory mating success in male fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster)
Koch, R. E. & Dowling, D. K., Oct 2022, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 35, 10, p. 1396-1402 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Fragmentation in mitochondrial genomes in relation to elevated sequence divergence and extreme rearrangements
Feng, S., Pozzi, A., Stejskal, V., Opit, G., Yang, Q., Shao, R., Dowling, D. K. & Li, Z., 7 Jan 2022, In: BMC Biology. 20, 1, 17 p., 7.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access4 Citations (Scopus) -
Maternal and paternal sugar consumption interact to modify offspring life history and physiology
Camilleri, T. L., Piper, M. D. W., Robker, R. L. & Dowling, D. K., May 2022, In: Functional Ecology. 36, 5, p. 1124-1136 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access3 Citations (Scopus) -
New insights into mitochondrial-nuclear interactions revealed through analysis of small RNAs
Pozzi, A. & Dowling, D. K., 4 Feb 2022, In: Genome Biology and Evolution. 14, 2, 15 p., evac023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access8 Citations (Scopus)