Jane Melville AM is an Australian herpetologist at Museums Victoria. Her research focuses on the taxonomy and genetics of reptiles and amphibians.[1]

Jane Melville
Alma materUniversity of Tasmania
Scientific career
InstitutionsMuseums Victoria
Thesis The evolution of locomotory mode in the lizard genus Niveoscincus : an ecomorphological analysis of ecology, behaviour, morphology and performance ability  (1999)

Career edit

Melville completed a BsC (hons) at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), winning the Ralston Trust Prize for Best Honours Thesis.[2] She remained at UTAS to undertake a PhD in zoology, awarded for her thesis "The evolution of locomotory mode in the lizard genus Niveoscincus : an ecomorphological analysis of ecology, behaviour, morphology and performance ability".[3]

Melville joined Museums Victoria in 2002 and served as curator of herpetology from 2004 to 2008.[4] She was promoted to senior curator, terrestrial vertebrates in 2008.[4] She was appointed an honorary herpetologist at the University of Melbourne in 2002[4] and is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University.[5]

Awards and recognition edit

Melville was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2016 and a Fulbright Fellowship in 2019. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours for "significant service to herpetological research, and to the museums sector".[4]

Selected publications edit

Melville has written of over 75 peer-reviewed journal articles,[4] including:

  • Jane Melville; Roy Swain (August 2000). "Evolutionary relationships between morphology, performance and habitat openness in the lizard genus Niveoscincus (Scincidae: Lygosominae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 70 (4): 667–683. doi:10.1111/J.1095-8312.2000.TB00222.X. ISSN 0024-4066. Wikidata Q123250684.
  • Jane Melville; Luke J Harmon; Jonathan B Losos (1 March 2006). "Intercontinental community convergence of ecology and morphology in desert lizards". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 273 (1586): 557–563. doi:10.1098/RSPB.2005.3328. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 1560059. PMID 16537126. Wikidata Q51189816.
  • Margaret Mary Byrne; D K Yeates; L Joseph; et al. (27 August 2008). "Birth of a biome: insights into the assembly and maintenance of the Australian arid zone biota". Molecular Ecology. 17 (20): 4398–4417. doi:10.1111/J.1365-294X.2008.03899.X. ISSN 0962-1083. PMID 18761619. Wikidata Q33365405.
  • Margaret Byrne; Dorothy A. Steane; Leo Joseph; et al. (26 May 2011). "Decline of a biome: evolution, contraction, fragmentation, extinction and invasion of the Australian mesic zone biota". Journal of Biogeography. 38 (9): 1635–1656. doi:10.1111/J.1365-2699.2011.02535.X. ISSN 0305-0270. Wikidata Q56967521.
  • Katie L Smith; Luke J Harmon; Luke P Shoo; Jane Melville (18 January 2011). "Evidence of constrained phenotypic evolution in a cryptic species complex of agamid lizards". Evolution. 65 (4): 976–992. doi:10.1111/J.1558-5646.2010.01211.X. ISSN 0014-3820. PMID 21166790. Wikidata Q33774563.
  • Sarah Legge; Libby Rumpff; John C. Z. Woinarski; et al. (2 March 2022). "The conservation impacts of ecological disturbance: Time‐bound estimates of population loss and recovery for fauna affected by the 2019–2020 Australian megafires". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 31 (10): 2085–2104. doi:10.1111/GEB.13473. ISSN 1466-8238. Wikidata Q112784494.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Jane Melville". Winston Churchill Trust. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Dr Jane Melville". University of Melbourne. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  3. ^ Melville, Jane, The evolution of locomotory mode in the lizard genus Niveoscincus : an ecomorphological analysis of ecology, behaviour, morphology and performance ability, retrieved 30 October 2023
  4. ^ a b c d e "Dr Jane MELVILLE". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Dr Jane Melville". Museums Victoria. Retrieved 30 October 2023.