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Since 2011 I have been Senior Curator of Mammals at Museums Victoria. I am an Honorary Fellow in Biosciences at the University of Melbourne where I supervise post-graduate students.

My research integrates fieldwork, genetics, and museum specimens to adress a wide range of questions related to the taxonomy, evolution, ecology, and conservation of mammals, particularly rodents. I have active field programs in Australia and Indonesia. My research has led to discovery and description of six species of mammals with several new species still to describe.

I was born in California and studied psychology and neurobiology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2005 I completed my PhD in Biology at the University of Ilinois. From 2005 to 2007 I held post-doctoral positions at Florida State University and Southern Cross University where I studied the systematics and evolution of Australian rodents. From 2007-2011 I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley where I continued my work on rodent systematics. I also used the rich historical record at MVZ and  led modern resurveys of mammals to test responses of species to climate change over the last century.

Qualifications

Ph.D., Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2005)

B.A., Molecular Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley (1998)

B.A., Psychology, University of California, Berkeley (1998)

Key publications

Rowe, K.C, A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn. 2016. Repeated evolution of carnivory among Indo-Australian rodents. Evolution 70:653-665. DOI:10.1111/evo.12871

Rowe, K.C., K.M.C. Rowe, M. Tingley, M. Koo, J. Perrine, C.J. Conroy, J.L. Patton, S. Beissinger, C. Moritz. 2015. Spatially heterogeneous impact of climate change on small mammals of montane California. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282: 20141857. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1857

K.C. Rowe, A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn. 2014. Convergent evolution of semi-aquatic carnivory in a new genus and species (Rodentia: Muridae) from Wallacea. Zootaxa 3815:541–564. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3815.4.5

Rowe, K.C., K. Aplin, P.R. Baverstock, and C. Moritz.  2011. Recent and rapid speciation with limited morphological disparity in the genus Rattus. Systematic Biology 60:188-203. http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/2/188.short

Rowe, K.C., M.L. Reno, D.M. Richmond, R.M. Adkins, S.J. Steppan.  2008.  Pliocene colonization and adaptive radiations in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul):  Multilocus systematics of the old endemic rodents (Muroidea: Murinae).  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47:84-101. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790308000043

Links

• Discovery Documentary: Rats (YouTube video)
• 3AW Radio interview

Recent Grants

2016-2020 US National Science Foundation: A Biotic Inventory of Terrestrial Vertebrates, Spiders, and Haemosporidian Parasites of Sulawesi, Indonesia

2017-2019 Bioplatforms Australia: Building genomics resources to understand and protect Australia’s mammals.

2017-2018 Robert Blackwood Research: Convergence in skull mechanics and genome evolution in carnivorous rodents.

2011-2014 Australia and Pacific Science Foundation: Ecological and biogeographic underpinnings of spectacular diversification of murine rodents in Australasia

I'm available for student supervision.

Current Students (University of Melbourne)

Phoebe Burns (PhD)
Testing the decline, predicting the rarity and modelling for the future of native mice

Emily Roycroft (PhD)
Genomic approaches to understanding the evolution and conservation of Australo-Papuan rodents.

Monique Winterhoff (MSc)
Emerging infectious diseases in a biodiversity hotspot: Trypanosomes of endemic small mammals of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Molly Watchorn (MSc)
The natural history of Sulawesi Murids: determining diet within the Latimojong Ranges rat community.

Previous Students (University of Melbourne)

Heru Handika (MSc)
From Hill rats (Bunomys) to Brotherly rats (Frateromys): The geography of diversification among rodents on Sulawesi, Indonesia

Peter Smissen (PhD)
Phylogenetic resolution of biome transitions, species boundaries, and extinct species in the rodents of Australia.

Stella Shipway (MSc)
Decline in persistence of the broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus) across Victoria.

Caitlin Newton (MSc)
A Single Evolutionarily Significant Unit in the Endangered Smoky Mouse (Pseudomys fumeus).

Phoebe Burns (MSc)
Post-fire distribution and detectability of the smoky mouse (Pseudomys fumeus).

Smissen, P.J., K.C. Rowe. In Review.  Biome transitions in the evolution of Australian rodents. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Eldridge, R., A.S. Achmadi, T. Giarla, K.C. Rowe, J.A. Esselstyn. In Review. Geographic isolation and elevational gradients promote lineage diversification in an endemic shrew on Sulawesi, Indonesia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Demos, T.C., A.S. Achmadi, H. Handika, Maharadatunkamsi, K.C. Rowe, and J.A. Esselstyn. 2017. A new species of shrew (Soricomorpha: Crocidura) from Java, Indonesia: possible character displacement despite interspecific gene flow. Journal of Mammalogy 98:183–193

Bragg, J., S. Potter, K. Bi, R. Catullo, S. Donnellan, M. Eldridge, L. Joseph, S.J. Keogh, P. Oliver, K.C. Rowe, C. Moritz. 2016. Resources for phylogenomic analyses of Australian terrestrial vertebrates. Molecular Ecology Resources.

Demos, T.C., A.S. Achmadi, T.C. Giarla, H. Handika, Maharadatunkamsi, K.C. Rowe, J.A. Esselstyn. 2016. Local endemism and within-island diversification of shrews illustrate the importance of speciation in building Sundaland mammal diversity. Molecular Ecology 25:5158-5173.

Rowe, K.C, A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn. 2016. A new genus and species of omnivorous rodent (Muridae: Murinae) from Sulawesi, nested within a clade of endemic carnivores. Journal of Mammalogy 97: 978-991. DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyw029


Rowe, K.C, A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn. 2016. Repeated evolution of carnivory among Indo-Australian rodents. Evolution 70:653-665. DOI:10.1111/evo.12871

Burns, P.A., K.M.C. Rowe, B.P. Holmes, K.C. Rowe. 2016. Historical resurveys reveal persistence of smoky mouse (Pseudomys fumeus) populations over the long-term and through the short-term impacts of fire. Wildlife Research 42:668–677. DOI:10.1071/WR15096

Esselstyn, J.A., A. Setiawan, H.H. Handika, K.C. Rowe. 2015. A hog-nosed shrew rat (Rodentia: Muridae) from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Journal of Mammalogy 96: 895-907. DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyv093


Rowe, K.C., K.M.C. Rowe, M. Tingley, M. Koo, J. Perrine, C.J. Conroy, J.L. Patton, S. Beissinger, C. Moritz. 2015. Spatially heterogeneous impact of climate change on small mammals of montane California. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282: 20141857. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1857

Clemann, N., K.M.C. Rowe, K.C. Rowe, T. Raadik, M. Gomon, P. Menkhorst, J. Sumner, D. Bray, M. Norman, J. Melville. 2014. Value and impacts of collecting vertebrate voucher specimens, with guidelines for ethical collection. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 72:141-151.

Achmadi, A.S., K.C. Rowe, J.A. Esselstyn. 2014. New records of two rarely encountered, endemic rats (Muridae: Rodentia) from Mount Gandangdewata, West Sulawesi Province. Treubia 41:51-60.

Musser, G.G., A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn, K.C. Rowe. 2014. Bunomys torajae, new species. In G.G. Musser. A systematic review of Sulawesi Bunomys (Muridae, Murinae) with the description of two new species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 392:124-139.

M.A. Phuong, M. Lim, D.R. Wait, K.C. Rowe, C. Moritz. 2014. Delimiting species in the genus Otospermophilus (Rodentia: Sciuridae), using genetics, ecology, and morphology. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 113:1136-1151. doi: 10.1111/bij.12391

K.C. Rowe, A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn. 2014. Convergent evolution of semi-aquatic carnivory in a new genus and species (Rodentia: Muridae) from Wallacea. Zootaxa 3815:541–564. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3815.4.5

A.S. Achmadi, J.A. Esselstyn, K.C. Rowe, I. Maryanto, M.T. Abdullah. 2013 Phylogeny, diversity, and biogeography of Southeast Asian spiny rats (Maxomys). Journal of Mammalogy 94(6):1412-1423. http://asmjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1644/13-MAMM-A-092.1

J. Schenk, K.C. Rowe, S.J. Steppan. 2013. Ecological Opportunity and Incumbency in the Diversification of Repeated Continental Colonizations by Muroid Rodents. Systematic Biology 62:837-864. http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/6/837

A.B. Smith, M.J. Santos, M.S. Koo, K.M.C. Rowe, K.C. Rowe, J.L. Patton, J.D. Perrine, S.R. Beissinger, C. Moritz. 2013. Evaluation of species distribution models by resampling of sites surveyed a century ago by Joseph Grinnell. Ecography 36:1–15. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00107.x/abstract

K. Lee, W. Ellis, F. Carrick, S. Corley, S. Johnstone, P. Baverstock, C. Nock, K.C. Rowe. 2012. Anthropogenic changes to the landscape result in southerly colonisation of koalas in northeast New South Wales, Australia. Austral Ecology 38:355-363. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2012.02414.x/abstract

C.J. Conroy, K.C. Rowe, K.M.C. Rowe, P.L. Kamath, K.P. Aplin, L. Hui, D.K. James, C. Moritz, J.L. Patton. 2012. Cryptic genetic diversity in Rattus of the San Francisco Bay region, California. Biological Invasions 15:741-758. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-012-0323-9

Esselstyn, J.A., A. Setiawan, K.C. Rowe. 2012. Evolutionary novelty in a rat with no molars. Biology Letters 8:990-993. http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/8/6/990.abstract

Rowe, K.M.C., K.C. Rowe, M.S. Elphinstone, P.R. Baverstock.  2012. Population structure, timing of divergence and contact between lineages in the endangered Hasting’s River Mouse, Pseudomys oralis. Australian Journal of Zoology 59:186-200. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/ZO11046.htm

Eastman, L., T.L. Morelli, K.C. Rowe, C.J. Conroy, C. Moritz. 2012. Size increase in high elevation ground squirrels over the last century. Global Change Biology 18:1499–1508. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02644.x/abstract

Snyder, H.K., Maia, R., D’Alba, L., Shultz, A.J., Rowe, K.M.C., Rowe, K.C., and Shawkey, M.D. 2012. Iridescent colour production in hairs of blind golden moles (Chrysochloridae). Biology Letters 8:393-396. http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/8/3/393

Aplin, K.P., H. Suzuki, A.A. Chinen, R.T. Chesser, J.T. Have, S.C. Donnellan, J. Austin, A. Frost, J.P. Gonzalez, V. Herbreteau, F. Catzeflis, J. Soubrier, Y.P. Fang, J. Robins, E. Matisoo-Smith, A.D.S. Bastos, I. Maryanto, M.H. Sinaga, C. Denys, G. Yap, R. Van Den Bussche, C. Conroy, K.C. Rowe, A. Cooper. 2011. Multiple geographic origins of commensalism and complex dispersal history of black rats. PLoS One 6(e26357):1-20. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026357

Rowe, K.C., S. Singhal, M.D. MacManes, J.F. Ayroles, T.L. Morelli, E.M. Rubidge, K. Bi, C. Moritz. 2011. Museum genomics: Low cost and high accuracy genetic data from historical specimens. Molecular Ecology Resources 11:1082-1092. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03052.x/abstract

Geffen, E., Y. Yom-Tov, and K.C. Rowe. 2011. Reproductive rates in Australian rodents are related to phylogeny. PLoS ONE 6(e19199):1-9. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0019199

Rowe, K.C., K. Aplin, P.R. Baverstock, and C. Moritz.  2011. Recent and rapid speciation with limited morphological disparity in the genus Rattus. Systematic Biology 60:188-203. http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/2/188.short

Cottam, M.R., S.K. Robinson, E.J. Heske, J.D. Brawn, and K.C. Rowe. 2009.  Use of landscape metrics to predict avian nest survival in a fragmented Midwestern forest landscape.  Biological Conservation 142:2464-2475. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320709002377

Ayroles, J.A., K.A. Hughes, K.C. Rowe, M.M. Reedy, S.L. Rodriguez-Zas, J.M. Drnevich, C.E. Cáceres, and K.N. Paige. 2009.  A genome-wide assessment of inbreeding depression: Gene number, function and mode of action.  Conservation Biology 23:920-930. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01186.x/abstract

Rowe, K.C., M.L. Reno, D.M. Richmond, R.M. Adkins, S.J. Steppan.  2008.  Pliocene colonization and adaptive radiations in Australia and New Guinea (Sahul):  Multilocus systematics of the old endemic rodents (Muroidea: Murinae).  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47:84-101. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790308000043

Rowe, K.C., E.J. Heske, and K.N. Paige.  2006.  Comparative phylogeography of eastern chipmunks and white-footed mice in relation to the individualistic nature of species.  Molecular Ecology 15(13):4003-4020. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03063.x/abstract

Hughes, K.A., J.F. Ayroles, M. Reedy, J.M. Drnevich, K.C. Rowe, C.E. Cáceres, and      K.N. Paige.  2006. Segregating variation in the transcriptome: cis regulation and additivity of effects. Genetics 173:1347-1355. http://www.genetics.org/content/173/3/1347

Mettke-Hoffman, C., K.C. Rowe, T.J. Hayden, and V. Canoine.  2006.  Effects of experience and object complexity on exploration in garden warblers (Sylvia borin)  Journal of Zoology 268:405-413. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2005.00037.x/abstract

Rowe, K.C., E.J. Heske, P.W. Brown, and K.N. Paige.  2004. Surviving the ice: Northern refugia and post-glacial colonization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(28):10355-10359. http://www.pnas.org/content/101/28/10355.short

French S.S., K.C. Rowe, and E.J. Heske.  2003.  Distribution of eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) in the Shawnee National Forest, Southern Illinois: Why are they missing from the eastern Shawnee?  American Midland Naturalist 150:194-198. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1674/0003-0031(2003)150%5B0194:DOECTS%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Canoine V., T.J. Hayden, K. Rowe, and W. Goyman.  2002.  The stress response of european stonechats depends on the type of stressor.  Behaviour 139(10):1303-1311. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4535989?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21104120398293