About
Penelope's passion for the water began during her swimming lessons at age 2 and manifested into a complete passion for diving and ocean wildlife. So it's not surprising that Penelope leapt into marine ecology research straight out of school and has since worked toward understanding fish behaviour and cognition in her Masters in Research and PhD. When she's not hunched over rockpools or researching in the lab, you'll find Penelope planning her next diving adventure
EDUCATION: MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, AU
BACHELOR OF MARINE SCIENCE (2008-2012)
MASTER OF MARINE SCIENCE & MANAGEMENT (2013)
Penelope embarked on the first stage of her Masters' degrees in collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS). It was during this year she used archived phytoplankton samples from the Antarctic coast to map seasonal patterns using GIS applications
MASTER OF RESEARCH (2014)
The work presented for this degree was carried out around the rockpools of Sydney, where Penelope collected different goby species from various environments and tested their cognition and memory using a simple maze
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2015 - 2019)
In 2018, Penelope completed her Doctorate, during which she researched behaviour and cognition in small rockpool fishes. She combined behavioural assays and stable isotope analyses to investigate resource partitioning is sympatric species
PUBLICATIONS
Like us, fishes are influenced by their environment when it comes to how they behave in particular situations. The majority of Penelope's research has focused on behavioural plasticity in fishes, which highlights the fact that they are able to adapt several aspects of their behaviour over short periods of time in response to environmental change.
Seasonal and developmental diet shifts in sympatric and allopatric intertidal gobies determined by stomach content and stable isotope analysis
Environmental enrichment influences spatial learning ability in captive-reared intertidal gobies (Bathygobius cocosensis)
Seasonal variation of sexually dimorphic spatial learning implicates mating system in the intertidal Cocos Frillgoby (Bathygobius cocosensis)
Hatching success of rainbowfish eggs following exposure to air
EXPERIENCE
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Microsoft office (Word, Excel, Ppt)
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Statistics (Statview, SPSS, Matlab)
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Spatial application: GIS
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English Professional Editing
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Native Spanish speaker
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PADI certified (rescue)
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Occupational Diver Certified
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First Aid/Adv Resus Certified
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N.S.W Boat licence
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Class 'C' N.S.W. Driver's licence
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Animal Behaviour
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Animal Cognition
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Marine & Freshwater Research
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Journal of Fish Biology
2021 Leadership, Management and Conflict Resolution, TAFE NSW
2020 Commercial Diver Certification Part 1 Res., ADAS, Sydney, Aus
2018 Threatened fishes | Fisheries management ASFB Conference, Melbourne, Aus
2017 Media survival | Making your science matter | REP – Introduction to R
2016 Basic Scientific Research Writing | Academic Writing & Communication
ORRCA Marine Mammal Rescue Training, Sydney, Aus
PADI Rescue SCUBA Diver Certification, Cairns, Aus
Openwater Freediving Level 1, Botany, Aus
2015 Animal Ethics Training, MQU, Aus
2014 Working with Research Animals, MQU, Aus
2019-2021 Sea life Sydney Aquarium
Primary Aquarist
2012-2015 Abyss Aquariums
System Designer and Fish Specialist
2019- Editage
ESL Scientific Reviewer
2022- UNSW
Animal Ethics Committee Member
2022- Sydney Olympic Park Authority
Park Ranger
2022- Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Deputy Dive Safety Officer
2012 Investigating stress behaviours in captive African Elephants (Loxodonta africana)
2013 Mapping the distribution of archived diatom (Planothidium) samples
2014 Hatching success of rainbowfish eggs following exposure to air
2014/15 Volunteer to Dr. Gemma White investigating cognition in intertidal gobies
2021 Verifying new DNA-based tool to age fish using Aus. lungfish as a model species
Current Husbandry assistant and scientific diver for the White’s Seahorse Project
Image credit: Tom Burd
"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever"