Education
1980 PhD University of Sydney
1976 MSc Hons University of Auckland
1973 BSc University of Auckland
Employment history
1989 -2006 Currently Research Director, AIMS
1983-1989 Faculty of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University
1981-1983 Queens fellowship in Marine Science, AIMS
Professional distinctions
• Peter has spent more than 25 years studying coral reef fishes on the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere. His focus has been on the structure and replenishment of populations, larval ecology, dispersal, and biological oceanography.
• Since 1998, Peter has led an external research program “Maintaining Ecosystem Quality” in the Cooperative Research Centre for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (CRC Reef), which links industry, academia and government institutions. From 1999-2002, he was a member of the AIMS Executive and Research Director. From these positions, he encouraged largescale collaborations between AIMS and other partners, including the $9 million “Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project”.
Research interests
Peter Doherty is based in Townsville where he is the Research Director and member of the AIMS Management Group (re-appointed 2006). He is currently a member of a number of scientific advisory committees advising on research and management issues in northern Australia.
Key publications
van Herwerden L, Doherty PJ (2006) Contrasting genetic structures across two hybrid zones of a tropical reef fish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus (Bleeker 1855). Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 239-252.
Doherty PJ, Dufour V, Galzin R, Hixon M, Meekan MG, Planes S (2004) High mortality during settlement is a population bottleneck for a tropical surgeonfish. Ecology 85: 2422-2428.
Hair C and Doherty PJ (2004) Development of new artisanal fisheries based on the capture and culture of postlarval coral reef fish. Report for the ACIAR Restricted Project FIS/98/13. ICLARM WorldFish Center 104p.
Doherty PJ (2002) Variable replenishment of reef fish populations. Chapter 15. : 327-355. In: Sale PF (ed) Coral reef fishes: dynamics and diversity in a complex ecosystem. Academic Press. 500 p.
Doherty PJ (2001) The lophophorates - Phoronida, Brachiopoda, and Ectoprocta. pp. 350-373. In: Anderson DT (ed) Invertebrate Zoology. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. 512 p.
Planes S, Doherty PJ, Bernardi G (2001) Strong genetic divergence among populations of a marine fish with limited dispersal, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, within the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. Evolution 55: 2263-2273.
Planes S, Doherty PJ (1997) Genetic relationships of the colour morphs of Acanthochromis polyacanthus (Pomacentridae) on the northern Great Barrier Reef. Marine Biology 130: 109-117.
Planes S, Doherty PJ (1997) Genetic and colour interactions at a contact zone of Acanthochromis polyacanthus: a marine fish lacking pelagic larvae. Evolution 51: 1232-1243.
Doherty PJ, Planes S, Mather P (1995) Gene flow and larval duration in seven species of coral reef fish from the Great Barrier Reef. Ecology 76: 2373-2391.
Doherty PJ, Fowler AJ (1994) An empirical test of recruitment limitation in a coral reef fish. Science 263: 935-939.
