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Contact me through our enquiries team

In my role as a collection manager, I am responsible for managing, maintaining and providing access to Museums Victoria’s impressive collection of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. I register new specimens, manage the associated collection data, facilitate loans, provide access to visiting researchers, manage volunteer projects, assist with public enquiries and outreach and get out in the field when possible.

My research is focussed on exploring patterns of speciation and hybridisation among reptiles and amphibians, using a range of genetic, morphological, acoustic and ecological data. Currently I am involved in a project that documents patterns of reptile diversity using CT scanning methods. I am also interested in preventing the spread and impact of the deadly chytrid fungus that is affecting Victorian frogs.

Qualifications

PhD, Science (Zoology), University of Melbourne, 2011

BSc (Hons), University of Melbourne, 2006

Key publications

Smith Date KL, Hale JM, Gay L, Kearney M, Austin JJ, Parris KM, Melville J. 2013. Spatio-temporal changes in the structure of an Australian frog hybrid zone: a 40-year perspective. Evolution 67(12): 3442-3454.

Smith KL, Harmon LJ, Shoo LP, Melville J. 2011. Evidence of constrained phenotypic evolution in a cryptic species complex of agamid lizards. Evolution 65(4) 976-992.

Smith KL, Hale JM, Kearney MR, Austin JJ, Melville J. 2013. Molecular patterns of introgression in a classic hybrid zone between the Australian tree frogs, Litoria ewingii and L. paraewingi: evidence of a tension zone. Molecular Ecology 22(7) 1869-1883.

Potvin DA, Parris KM, Smith Date KL, Keely CC, Bray RD, Hale J, Hunjan S, Austin JA, Melville, J. 2017. Genetic erosion and escalating extinction risk in frogs with increasing wildfire frequency. Journal of Applied Ecology 54(3) 945-954.

Melville J, Smith K, Hobson R, Hunjan S, Shoo L. 2014. The role of integrative taxonomy in the conservation management of cryptic species: the taxonomic status of endangered earless dragons (Agamidae: Tympanocryptis) in the grasslands of Queensland, Australia. PLoS One 9(7) e101847.