GO TOP

Field

Ecological Developmental Adaptability Life Sciences :
Ecological Dynamics

Research

Assistant Professor FAULKS Leanne
Campus Aobayama campus
Laboratory Watershed Ecology
Tel +81-22-795-6686
E-mail faulks.leanne.kay.a3@tohoku.ac.jp
Website https://sites.google.com/site/leannefaulks/
Career
From November 2024 Assistant Professor in the Watershed Ecology Lab, Tohoku University
2020-2024 Researcher and Guest Associate Professor at the Institute for Freshwater Biology, Nagano University, Japan.
2015-2020 Researcher and Junior Assistant Professor at Sugadaira Research Station, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
2011-2014 PostDoc at the Evolutionary Biology Center, Uppsala University, Sweden.
2010-2011 Scientific Officer for state government fisheries department, New South Wales, Australia.
2006-2010 PhD from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Selected Publications
Faulks LK, Kaushik P, Taniguchi S, Sekino M, Nakamichi R, Yamamoto Y, Fujimori H,Okamoto C, Kodama S, Daryani A, Manwong A, Galang I, Mochioka N, Araki K, Suzuki M, Kaji Y, Ichiki T, Matsunaga T, Hakoyama H (2022) Inferring the demographic history of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) from genomic data: Insights for conservation and fisheries management. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 32 (6): 1092–1098. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.3810

Faulks LK, Kerezsy A, Unmack PJ, Johnson J, Hughes JM (2017) Going, going, gone? Loss of genetic diversity in two critically endangered Australian freshwater fishes, Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis and Chlamydogobius squamigenus, from Great Artesian Basin springs at Edgbaston, Queensland, Australia. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 27: 39–50. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2684

Faulks LK, Svanbäck R, Ragnarsson-Stabo H, Eklöv P, Östman Ö (2015) Intraspecific bionomic niche variation drives abundance-occupancy relationships in freshwater fish communities. The American Naturalist 186: 272–283. DOI: 10.1086/682004

Faulks LK, Gilligan DM, Beheregaray LB (2010) Islands of water in a sea of dry land: hydrological regime predicts genetic diversity and dispersal in a widespread fish from Australia’s arid zone, the golden perch Macquaria ambigua. Molecular Ecology 19: 4723–4737. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04848.x
Activities in Academic Societies
Ecological Society of Japan
Ichthyological Society of Japan

Recent Activities

I have a broad range of interests including: connectivity of freshwater streams and the influence of small weirs on freshwater biodiversity, development of an epigenetic method for determining the age of Japanese eels, exploring how mountain ranges in Japan might contribute to the evolution and maintenance of freshwater biodiversity, and the role of fish microbiomes in the evolution, adaptation, invasiveness and resilience of the host fish.  

Message to Students

I encourage students to be observant of the natural world around them and stay curious and open minded. This approach together with determination and hard work will help you in your studies (and life in general!).