The Flanagan Lab

About the lab

The Flanagan Lab in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch is focused on understanding the evolutionary mechanisms allowing variation in traits to be maintained within and among populations. Specifically, we are interested in understanding the evolution of sexually dimorphic traits (why are males and females different morphologically and behaviourally in some species and not other closely related species?) and identifying mechanisms impacting fitness-related traits (what evolutionary mechanisms and which traits are involved in population declines?). We use a wide variety of tools to address these questions, including population genetics, comparative genomics, transcriptomics, animal behaviour, and simulation modeling. Our empirical work has mostly focused on pipefish and seahorses, but we are also studying kororā (little blue penguins), emperor penguins, paikea (humpback whales), and pathogenic oomycetes.

Lab news

August 2026: Skye Davis presented her preliminary emperor penguin genetics results at the SCAR conference in Norway.

June 2026: Georgia Gwatkin’s paper on little blue penguin nest selection has been published in the Journal of Wildlife Management!

May 2026: Skye Davis was awarded a travel grant to attend the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research conference in Norway later this year.

May 2026: Sarah had a collaborative paper published on the methods of her work on seals in Antarctica.

March 2026: Nan Hauser passed her PhD oral examination!

December 2026: Belle Hartshorn completed her degree and is moving on to medical school at the University of Auckland!

November 2025: Juan Lee was awarded a Graduate Student Research Award from the Society of Systematic Biology to support his thesis research – well done Juan!

November 2025: Congratulations to Belle Hartshorn who won an award for best presentation at the Annual Biology Conference! She also submitted her thesis and finished the requirements for her BSc(Hons) this month.

November 2025: Juan Lee won an award for best student presentation at The Korean Society of Fisheries and Aquatic Science conference in Busan, South Korean. Congratulations!

October 2025: Sarah left for a one-month excursion to Antarctica to join in on the field work for her collaborative project with Professor Michelle LaRue and colleagues, which focusses on the coexistence of emperor penguins, Weddell seals, and Adelie Penguins in the Ross Sea.

January 2025: Belle Hartshorn has joined the lab to do her BSc(Hons). Welcome, Belle!

See older news at the news archive