Raoul Mulder

Raoul Alexander Mulder is an Australian ornithologist and evolutionary ecologist. Based at the University of Melbourne, he is an Associate Dean of Academic Innovation for the Faculty of Science and former head of the School of BioSciences.

Professor

Raoul Alexander Mulder
Raoul Mulder with a black swan at Albert Park Lake, Melbourne.
NationalityAustralian
Alma materAustralian National University
Known forEvolution of bird mating systems
Scientific career
FieldsEvolutionary ecology
InstitutionsUniversity of Melbourne
ThesisEvolutionary ecology of the mating system of superb fairy-wrens (1992[1])
Doctoral advisorAndrew Cockburn
Websitehttps://raoulmulder.org/

Research career

Mulder completed his Bachelor of Science at Australian National University, majoring in biochemistry, but a field trip to Kakadu National Park turned his attention to biology instead.[2] He completed his Honours and PhD at the Australian National University under ornithologist Andrew Cockburn, submitting his thesis in 1992.[1]

Mulder subsequently spent time in Madagascar studying male plumage dichromatism in the Madagascar paradise flycatcher.[3][4] He spent one year as a technical advisor to the World Wide Fund for Nature in southern Madagascar, then served as a World Learning academic director in both Botswana and Madagascar.[2] He returned to Australian National University from 1996-1998 as an ARC postdoctoral fellow.[2]

Mulder joined the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne in 1999 as a lecturer.[2] Much of his research since has focused on the evolutionary and behavioural ecology of black swans and superb fairy-wrens.[5] His lab maintains wild study populations of black swans at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne, and superb fairy-wrens at Serendip Sanctuary near Lara, Victoria.[5][6][7] In 2015, Mulder served as head of the newly formed School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne.[8]

Using DNA fingerprinting, Mulder's PhD research revealed widespread extra-pair paternity in the superb fairy-wren: up to 76% of offspring were sired by males outside their social group. This is among the highest cuckoldry rates of any bird.[1][9] In black swans, his research found that one in six offspring are the result of breeding outside the social pair.[10][11][12]

  • Black swans at Albert Park Lake wearing identifying neck collars as part of Mulder lab research
  • A student measures a superb fairy-wren at Serendip Sanctuary as part of Mulder lab research
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References
  1. Raoul A. Mulder (1992) Evolutionary ecology of the mating system of superb fairy-wrens PhD thesis, Australian National University.
  2. Find An Expert: Prof Raoul Mulder The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. Raoul Mulder Official website: People Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  4. John L. Eliot (2005) "Birds of a Different Color: Madagascar's Paradise Flycatchers" National Geographic, April 2005. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  5. Raoul Mulder Official website: Research Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. Raoul Mulder (2011) "Citizen scientists, the black swan needs you" The Conversation, April 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  7. "Personality, and the Superb Fairy-wren" Off Track, Radio National. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. School of BioSciences Academic Staff Directory Archived by Wayback Machine on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. Raoul A. Mulder, Peter O. Dunn, Andrew Cockburn, Katherine A. Lazenby-Cohen, Michael J. Howell (1994) "Helpers Liberate Female Fairy-Wrens from Constraints on Extra-Pair Mate Choice." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 255: 223-229. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.1994.0032. Published 22 March 1994.
  10. K. Kraaijeveld, P. J. Carew, T. Billing, Greg J. Adcock, and Raoul A. Mulder (2004) "Extra-pair paternity does not result in differential sexual selection in the mutually ornamented black swan (Cygnus atratus) Molecular Ecology, 13(6): pp 1625–1633 (June 2004). DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02172.x
  11. "The secret lives of black swans" The Voice, 7(6): June 5-July 10, 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  12. Lynn Bell (2006) "The secret sex life of swans" PM, Radio National. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
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