Professor Mike Gardner

My vision is to study the intricacies of the natural world to instil others with a sense of awe and wonder so that they gain a sense of place - and are ultimately inspired to look after this world.

My vision has been pervasive in my career thus far. I obtained my degree at QUT in Brisbane, working on a highly polymorphic intertidal snail during my honours, investigating the relationship of shell morph to background. I then worked with Dr Bob Ward (CSIRO Marine Labs) for 2 1/2 years in Hobart where I looked at population genetic structure in school and gummy sharks. I came to Flinders University to study a PhD in a genetic investigation of sociality in a group living lizard with the late Prof. Mike Bull - after which I spent 3 1/2 years in England studying co-evolution between parasitic hoverflies and their host ants with Jeremy Thomas, Karsten Schonrogge and the late Graham Elmes.

However I was drawn back to Australia and its great lizard diversity - I returned to Adelaide for a two year postdoc with Flinders Biological Sciences where I linked Flinders and the South Australian Regional Facility for Molecular Ecology and Evolution. I am currently an Professor in Biodiversity/Ecology at Flinders University and retain links with the South Australian Museum. I work on two main systems, one is the long term sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) host/parasite study in the mid north of SA - in this system I explore questions about host-parasite interactions, lizard personality, and pair bonding. The other main system is a conservation based program exploring aspects of the endangered pygmy bluetongue lizard and how we can safely move this lizard further south to mitigate against climate change that risks extinction of the most northerly populations of this SA endemic lizard.