Gavin Prideaux

Biography

I study links between patterns in Australian mammal evolution, ecology and extinction, and climate- and human-driven environmental changes. My students and I spend weeks in the field every year digging up old bones, often from caves, and exploring the contents of museum drawers. We work with experts in many different fields, including archaeologists, geologists and molecular biologists. My own career started fairly inauspiciously: I scraped through year 12 with the barest pass and began a BSc at Flinders in 1987. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I liked science. After failing all first-year subjects except Biology, I followed the path of least resistance into second and third year, where I was introduced to evolution, palaeontology and the Australian biota. I studied kangaroo evolution for a PhD, then completed postdocs (junior research internships) at the University of California, Naracoorte Caves and Western Australian Museum, before returning in 2007 to reanimate palaeontology at Flinders following the retirement of Prof Rod Wells. Today, Flinders Palaeontology occupies a suite of purpose-built, centrally-located labs and offices opened in 2014. We have five academic staff, including a Strategic Professor, a Matthew Flinders Fellow, a Vice-chancellor's Research Fellow and an ARC Future Fellow, as well as an ARC DECRA Fellow, eight research and technical staff, and 18 PhD and Honours students. Our dynamic, diverse, highly-interactive group continues leads research into deep-time evolutionary patterns and processes, and the past and potential future effects of environmental changes on biotas. We regularly make ground-breaking discoveries that attract international attention.

Research Interest

In one way, shape or form, researchers within our group investigate the responses of species and/or communities of animals to environmental changes over timescales varying from hundreds to millions of years.