Gabrielle Genty

PhD supervisors: A/Prof L Möller and Prof L Beheregaray

Gabrielle is a molecular evolutionary biologist, interested in the genomics, genetic structure, evolution, and adaptation of cetaceans working in projects aimed at assisting conservation and management of at-risk populations. During her undergraduate, she gained experience in genetics and evolution in Dr. Andrew J. Crawford’s lab (BIOM|ICS). She did her thesis, on landscape genetics and species delimitation of an endemic species of frog in Colombia submitted to the Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. During her masters, she analysed bioacoustics data for her master’s thesis, which was supervised by Dr. Luke Rendell. Through this project she quantified natural and anthropogenic noise, manually detecting presence of sperm whales with passive acoustic data and compared these to Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to evaluate if ship traffic in the area might have an effect over the occurrence of sperm whales in the Northwest Providence Channel in the Bahamas. She is currently a PhD student with CEBEL and MELFU studying gene adaptation and demographic history of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus). Using whole-genome data and under the supervision of A/Prof Luciana Möller and Prof Luciano Beheregaray, she aims to investigate the blue whale’s history, including the influence of previous whaling, and assess if the remaining populations will be able to cope with the unavoidable climatic oscillations and predict if there will be any likely shifts in the dynamic of populations.