Dr Lisa Kirkendale

Qualifications

BSc., MSc., PhD.

Lisa has been working at the WAM since 2013, where she started as the Curator of Molluscs. Since 2019 she has also been the Head of Department and in this capacity, leads the AZ team of vibrant scientists to better understand the diversity and distribution of fish, molluscs, marine invertebrates including corals, sponges, echinoderms, as well as crustaceans and worms in WA.

Lisa has studied invertebrates with emphasis on molluscs since 2000. Molluscs are the second largest class of invertebrates, with representatives occupying most ecosystems on the planet including the deep sea up to the tops of mountains. The group has a long evolutionary history and impressive fossil record that makes them excellent system for addressing a diversity of big questions about biogeography and adaptation/change through time. >

Current projects on the go include documenting marine micromolluscs in Western Australia, describing new species of Western Australian oysters using genetic sequence data, developing a molecular phylogenetic framework to advance Bothriembryon land snail taxonomy, and continuing work with international and other collaborators on photosymbiotic cardiids, including giant clams. 

She has extensive expedition experience in search of new species that includes fieldtrips, including with Bush Blitz program, to the remote Kimberley, shorter fieldwork closer to Perth to continue to document land and freshwater species, and an emerging focus on southern temperate reefs, with cage diving in the Recherche Archipelago in 2023. Additionally, since 2020, Lisa has participated or co-led deep-sea expeditions including #NingalooCanyons expedition supported by Schmidt Ocean Institute aboard RV Falkor, and more recently, sampled marine biodiversity from 50-5000 metre depths with CSIRO aboard the RV Investigator to better understand what lives in the Gascoyne Marine Park. 
Working with Traditional Owners on country is one of the highlights of her job.  

Exhibitions and Public Programs

Lisa contributed to the fabulous Boola Bardip and regularly works on new exhibits. She participates in Scienceweek and provides annuals lectures on biodiversity of select taxonomic groups at local universities.

- Taxonomy, systematics, biodiversity and biogeography of Western Australian marine, freshwater and terrestrial molluscs
- Evolutionary and ecological processes driving the speciation and distribution of molluscs
- Marine molluscs of the Kimberley region.
- Cardiidae of Western Australia.

 

Selected Publications

2020-present

Lawrie AD, Chaplin J, Kirkendale L, Whisson C, Pinder A, Mlambo MC. 2023. Phylogenetic assessment of the halophilic Australian gastropod Coxiella and South African Tomichia resolves taxonomic uncertainties, uncovers new species and supports a Gondwanan link. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 184:107810. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107810. Epub 2023 May 10. PMID: 37172863.

Snow, M., Fotedar, S., Wilson, N.G., L.A. Kirkendale. 2023. Clarifying the natural distribution of Saccostrea Dollfus and Dautzenberg, 1920 (edible rock oyster) species in Western Australia to guide development of a fledgling aquaculture industry. Aquaculture 566. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.739202

Klunzinger MW, Whisson C, Zieritz A, Benson JA, Stewart BA, Kirkendale L. 2022. Integrated taxonomy reveals new threatened freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Hyriidae: Westralunio) from southwestern Australia. Sci Rep. 27;12(1):20385. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-24767-5. PMID: 36437370; PMCID: PMC9701689.

Bearham et al. including Kirkendale L. 2022. Habitats and benthic biodiversity across a tropical estuarine–marine gradient in the eastern Kimberley region of Australia. Regional Studies in Marine Science. Volume 49. 102039, ISSN 2352-4855, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2021.102039.

Post A, Przeslawski R, Nanson, R. Siwabessy, P.J.W, Smith D, Kirkendale L, Wilson N. 2021. Modern dynamics, morphology and habitats of slope-defined canyons on the northwest Australian margin. Marine Geology 443 (6): 106694. DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2021.106694

Post A, Przeslawski R, Huang Z, Smith D, Kirkendale L, Wilson N. 2021. An Eco-Narrative of the Gascoyne Marine Park, North-West Marine Region. Report to the National Environmental Science Program, Marine Biodiversity Hub. Geoscience Australia.

Klunzinger, M. W., Manuel Lopes-Lima, Andre Gomes-dos-Santos, Elsa Froufe, A. J. Lymbery & L. Kirkendale. 2021. Phylogeographic study of the West Australian freshwater mussel, Westralunio carteri, uncovers evolutionarily significant units that raise new conservation concerns. Hydrobiologia 848: 2951–2964.

Kirkendale, L., J.J. ter Poorten, P. Middelfart & J. G. Carter. 2021. A new photosymbiotic marine bivalve with window shell microstructure (Cardiidae: Fraginae). Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin 78: 125-138.

Middelfart, P., L. Kirkendale & C. Bryce. 2020. Smaller molluscs from a multi-taxon survey (2012–2014) of the shallow marine environments of the tropical Kimberley region, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 85(1): 117-183.

Morrison, H., L. Kirkendale & N.G. Wilson. 2020. A review of extant Tudivasum Rosenberg & Petit, 1987 (Neogastropoda: Turbinellidae) and description of three new species from Western Australia, December 2020. Journal Molluscan Studies 87(1).

Colgan, D., R.C. Willan & L. Kirkendale. 2020. A genetic assessment of the taxonomic status of New Zealand mussels of the genus Xenostrobus Wilson, 1967. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 54(2): 1-15.

Li, J., S. Lemer, L. Kirkendale, R. Bieler, C. Cavanaugh & G. Giribet. 2020. Shedding light: A phylotranscriptomic perspective illuminates the origin of photosymbiosis in marine bivalves. BMC Evolutionary Biology 20(1): 

Selected publications (pre-2020)

Richards, Z.T., Garcia, R., Moore, G., Jane Fromont, Lisa Kirkendale, Monika Bryce, Clay Bryce, Ana Hara, Jenelle Ritchie, Oliver Gomez, Corey Whisson, Mark Allen, Nerida G. Wilson. (2019). A tropical Australian refuge for photosymbiotic benthic fauna. Coral Reefs 38: 669–676. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01809-5.

Kirkendale, L., Hosie, A. & Richards, Z.T. (2019). Defining biodiversity gaps for North West Shelf marine invertebrates. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 102: 1-9.

Li, J., Volsteadt, M., Kirkendale, L. & C. Cavanaugh. (2018). Characterizing photosymbiosis between Fraginae bivalves and Symbiodinium using phylogenetics and stable isotopes. Frontier in Ecology and Evolution 6 (45):1-11. https://doi: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00045.

Whisson, C.S., Kirkendale, L. & Breure, B. (2018). Case 3748 — Bothriembryon Pilsbry, 1894 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Bothriembryontidae): Proposed conservation of the name by designation of Helix melo Quoy & Gaimard, 1832 as the type species of Liparus Albers, 1850. The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 75 (1):44-48. https://doi.org/10.21805/bzn.v75.a011

Poorten, J.J. ter, Kirkendale, L.A. & Poutiers, J.-M. (2017). The Cardiidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) of tropical northern Australia: A synthesis of taxonomy, biodiversity and biogeography with the description of four new species. Records of the Western Australia Museum 32 (2): 101-190.

Kirkendale, L. and G. Paulay. (2017). Photosymbiosis in Bivalvia. Treatise Online no. 89: Part N, Revised, Volume 1, Chapter 9.

Dias, P.J. et al. incl. L. Kirkendale. (2017). Establishment of a taxonomic and molecular reference collection to support the identification of species regulated by the Western Australian Prevention List for Introduced Marine Pests. Management of Biological Invasions. 8 (2): 215-225.

Wilson, N.G. and L. A. Kirkendale. (2016). Putting the ‘Indo’ back into the Indo-Pacific: resolving marine phylogeographic gaps. Invertebrate Systematics 30(1): 86-94.

Middelfart, P.U., Kirkendale, L.A. and N.G. Wilson. (2016). Australian Tropical Marine Micromolluscs: An Overwhelming Bias. Diversity 8 (3): 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/d8030017.

Richards, Z., Kirkendale, L., Moore, G., Hosie, A., Huisman, J., Bryce, M., Marsh, L., Bryce, C., Hara, A., Wilson, N., Morrison, S., Gomez, O., Ritchie, J., Whisson, C., Allen, M., Betterridge, L., Wood, C., Morrison, H., Salotti, M., Hansen, G., Slack-Smith, S. and Fromont, J. (2016). Marine biodiversity in temperate Western Australia: multi-taxon surveys of Minden and Roe Reefs. Diversity. 8 (2): 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/d8020007.

Winberg, P., Rubio, A. and Kirkendale, L. (2012). Chapter 3: Climate Change and Marine Living Resources. In Climate Change and the Oceans: Gauging the Legal and Policy Currents in the Asia Pacific Region. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.

Joseph G. Carter, Cristian R. Altaba, Laurie C. Anderson, Rafael Araujo, Alexander S. Biakov, Arthur E. Bogan, David C. Campbell, Matthew Campbell, Chen Jin-hua, John C. W. Cope, Graciela Delvene, Henk H. Dijkstra, Fang Zong-jie, Vera A. Gavrilova, Irina Goncharova, Alexander V. Guzhov, Peter J. Harries, Joseph H. Hartman, M. Hautmann, Walter R. Hoeh, Jorgen Hylleberg, Jiang Bao-yu, Paul Johnston, Lisa Kirkendale, Karl Kleemann, Jens Koppka, Jiří Kříž, Deusana Machado, Nikolaus Malchus, Oleg Mandic, Ana Márquez-Aliaga, Jean-Pierre Masse, Peter U. Middelfart, Simon Mitchell, Lidiya A. Nevesskaja, Sacit Özer, John Pojeta, Jr., Inga V. Polubotko, Jose Maria Pons, Sergey Popov, Teresa Sánchez, André F. Sartori, Robert W. Scott, Irina I. Sey, Sha Jin-geng, Javier H. Signorelli, Vladimir, V. Silantiev, Peter W. Skelton, Thomas Steuber, J. Bruce Waterhouse, G. Lynn Wingard, and Thomas Yancey. (2011). Synoptical Classification of the Bivalvia (Mollusca). University of Kansas, Paleontological Institute, Paleontological Contributions 4:1-47.

Kirkendale, L. (2009). ‘Their Day in the Sun’: Molecular phylogenetics and origin of photosymbiosis in the ‘other’ group of photosymbiotic marine bivalves (Cardiidae: Fraginae). Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 97: 448-465.

Kirkendale, L. and C.P. Meyer. (2004). Molecular phylogenetics of the Patelloida profunda group: Diversification in a dispersal-driven marine system. Molecular Ecology 13: 2749-2762.

Lisa Kirkendale, Taehwan Lee, P. Baker and D.Ó. Foighil. (2004). Oysters of the Conch Republic (Florida Keys): A molecular phylogenetic study of Parahyotissa mcgintyi, Teskeyostrea weberi and Ostreola equestris. Malacologia 46: 309-326.