Why are animals often so beautiful? What stories are they telling by their long tails and gaudy colours? What are the benefits and costs of beauty? And what about family life - what’s the state of conflict, and also cooperation, between mom and dad and between parents and young - and how do these things affect reproduction? These are central questions to work in our lab. In short, we’re interested in the sex and family life of animals, and how this has shaped their appearance, behaviour and success in reproduction.

We are currently working mostly with small marine goby fishes in Scandinavia, and with coral reef fishes in Australia. Our team also has worked extensively with various bird species.

We also do conservation biology work to understand how environmental and climate change including ocean acidification affect fish abundance, behaviour and reproduction.