Professor Luciano Beheregaray
Matthew Flinders Professor
College of Science and Engineering
My research and teaching focus on evolution, conservation management, sustainability, and genomics, with a particular interest in how fish populations adapt and respond to climate change and to management practices. My work has contributed to solving industry and community challenges, informed policy and management, and involved strong partnerships with government and industry.
I was born and raised in Uruguaiana, a town in Brazil’s Pampas grasslands. In 1986, I moved to the coast to study Biological Oceanography at the University of Rio Grande, where I completed my BSc and MSc while developing interests in ichthyology and population genetics. In 1996, I moved to Sydney to undertake a PhD in fish evolutionary genetics at Macquarie University, completed in 2001.
After my PhD, I worked as a Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Research Fellow at Yale University (2001–2003) doing research in evolution and conservation in Amazonia and the Galápagos. I then returned to Australia to join Macquarie University, where I served as Associate Professor and led both the Molecular Ecology Lab and the Molecular Ecology Group for Marine Research (MEGMAR) until 2009. In 2009, I moved to Adelaide to establish the Molecular Ecology Lab at Flinders University (MELFU), becoming a Full Professor in 2011.
To date, I have supervised 26 PhD and 32 Honours students to completion and produced around 280 peer-reviewed papers. I aim to create a supportive, intellectually engaging, respectable and collaborative environment for students and researchers in my lab, including an annual three-day retreat at a remote coastal location. Former lab members now hold academic and research positions across all inhabited continents, including Australia, the USA, Japan, Austria, South Africa, and Brazil.
From 2014 to 2018, I held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, which supported the development of a long-term research program in the ecological genomics of fishes. Between 2020 and 2023, I served as Research Section Lead for Ecology, Evolution and Environment, an interdisciplinary research community of over 200 academics, postdoctoral researchers, and students. In March 2022, I was awarded a Matthew Flinders Professorship in recognition of my contributions to research and leadership.
Higher Academic Qualifications
- PhD in Evolutionary Genetics, 2001. Macquarie University, Australia
- MSc in Biological Oceanography, 1995. University of Rio Grande, Brazil
- BSc in Biological Oceanography, 1991. University of Rio Grande, Brazil
Sabbatical and Postdoctoral Experience
- Sabbatical, Lab of Prof Louis Bernatchez, Universite' Laval, 2008. Quebec City, Canada
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 2001-2003. New Haven, USA
- Sabbatical, Lab of Prof Alex Wilson, University of Miami, 2011. Miami, USA
- Sabbatical, Lab of Prof Maren Wellenreuther, Plant & Food Research, 2022. Nelson, New Zealand
- Matthew Flinders Professorship. Flinders University, 2022.
- World’s Top 2% Scientist, 2020-current. Stanford Elsevier list based on standardized citation metrics across all scientists and disciplines.
- Chair - Australian Fish Genomics Initiative, Bioplatforms Australia (2024-present)
- ARC Future Fellow, Ecological Genomics. Australian Research Council, 2013.
- DG Catcheside Prize. Best PhD thesis in Genetics. Genetics Society of Australasia, 2001.
- Gaylord Donnelley Environmental Research Fellow. Yale University, 2001.
- Vice-Chancellor's Inaugural Award for Early-Career Researcher. Flinders University, 2010.
- Vice-Chancellor's Inaugural Award for Excellence in PhD Supervision. Flinders University, 2017.
Select Research Funding
> $15.1M in competitive grants and tenders as chief investigator (CI); funding includes 13 ARCs since 2005 - with 10 of them as lead CI.
- ARC Discovery. 2026-2028 "Adaptive introgression and rapid evolution to climate change" $590K (Beheregaray, Wellenreuther & Waters)
- FRDC 2023-2026 "Towards healthy and sustainable freshwater fish populations" $794K (Duncan, Beheregaray et al.)
- FRDC 2024-2026 "Snapper Science Program: Theme 1 – Biology and Ecology" $2M (Rogers, Beheregaray et al.)
- ARC Discovery. 2019-2021 "The Evolutionary Potential of Fragmented and Declining Populations" $318K (Beheregaray & Bernatchez)
- ARC Linkage. 2022-2026 "Designing successful genetic-rescue approaches for threatened species" $1.3M including industry contrib. (Bradshaw, Beheregaray et al.)
- MBIE Endeavour Fund Smart Ideas. 2024-2027 "How old are pāua? An epigenetic clock to sustainably manage a taonga" $1M (Wellenreuther et al.)
- ARC Linkage. 2019-2022 "Fisheries Genomics of snapper in Australia and New Zealand" $552K including industry contrib.(Beheregaray et al.)
- ARC Future Fellowship. 2013-2018 "Evolution, adaptation and resilience of Australian freshwater fishes" $872K + $200K Univ contrib. (Beheregaray)
- ARC Discovery. 2015-2017 "Comparative Evolutionary Genomics of Australian Rainbowfishes" $466K (Beheregaray & Bernatchez)
- ARC Discovery. 2011-2013 "The Genomics of Adaptation to Environmental Change in an Aquatic Organism" $310K (Beheregaray & Bernatchez)
- ARC Discovery. 2011-2013 "History, transport, or temperature: solving the riddle of Australia's temperate marine biodiversity" $225K (Beheregaray et al.)
- ARC Linkage. 2010-2013 "Restoration Genetics of Five Endangered Fish Species from the Murray-Darling Basin" $555K (Beheregaray et al.)
- ARC Linkage. 2011-2014 "Genomics for Persistence of Australian Freshwater Fish" $805K (Sunnucks et al.)
- ARC Discovery. 2005-2007 "Comparative Phylogeography and Diversification of Amazonian Fishes" $260K (Beheregaray)
- ARC Linkage. 2006-2008 "Conservation Genetics and Stocking Management of Perches and Basses" $287K (Beheregaray & Gilligan)
- Australian Marine Mammal Centre 2010-2011 $330K (Moller et al.)
Head of the Molecular Ecology Lab at Flinders University (MELFU)
Head of the Molecular Ecology Group for Marine Research (MEGMAR)
Chair - Australian Fish Genomics Initiative, Bioplatforms Australia (2024-present)
Research Section Lead - Ecology, Evolution and Environment (2020-2023, Flinders University)
In 2011, I established the Annual Conference of Postgraduate (HDR) Students in the School of Biological Sciences at Flinders University and served as conference chair and organiser from 2011 to 2013. The conference was created to support and assess the research progress of the School’s ~110 PhD students while also building a stronger and more engaging research community.
The success of the conference led to the creation of an Annual HDR Conference across the College of Science and Engineering, bringing together PhD students from throughout the College. In 2020, the conference was reorganised at the Research Section level. Today, students in organismal biology and environmental science take part in the Annual HDR Conference of the Ecology, Evolution and Environment Research Section.
- Chair - Australian Fish Genomics Initiative, Bioplatforms Australia. 2024-present.
- Invited Editor for PNAS. 2026.
- Editorial Board for Evolutionary Applications. 2017 - present.
- Invited Editor for Molecular Ecology Resources. 2022 - 2024.
- Editorial Board for Conservation Genetics. 2006 - 2015.
- Invited Editor for Conservation Letters. 2010 - 2012.
- Member of the scientific advisory board for the Ministry of the Environment regarding network of marine parks, South Australia, 2010-2015.
- Reviewer for 60+ scientific journals (e.g. Nature, Science, TREE, PNAS, Nature Climate Change, Science Advances) and for 12+ funding agencies including the ARC, NSF (USA), Marsden (New Zealand), NERC (UK), NRC (Canada), Genome Canada and National Geographic Society (USA).
- Keynote and plenary speaker and conference chair: over 65 invited presentations in Australia, USA, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand. I often chair sections and judge presentations in key scientific meetings, such as 'Evolution'.
- National and international referee service for promotions and tenured appointments, including Cornell University, Smithsonian Institution, University of California, ANU, University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney and NRF (South Africa).
- Speaker to 30+ school, rural and coastal community groups about conservation of aquatic biodiversity, including Amazonia (Brazil), Merimbula, Byron Bay and Jervis Bay (NSW) and Port Lincoln (SA).
- Headed the research and wrote the impact case study that represented biology (UoA 06) in 2018 as part of the Flinders University’s submission report for the ARC Engagement and Impact (EI), entitled ‘Conservation Management of Aquatic Resources’.
- ARC Major Grants Expo: In 2011 I represented Flinders at the ARC Major Grants Expo held in the Parliament House, Canberra.
- Conceived and coordinated the Annual Postgraduate Conference of the School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University. 2011-2013. This activity is now used across the College of Science and Engineering.
- Flinders University Academic Senate (member, 2 terms)
- Flinders University mentor - Early Career Researcher Mentor Scheme (3 years)
- Animals
- Biodiversity
- Conservation
- DNA studies
- Fish
- Population
- Evolution and Conservation of Aquatic Animals
- For information about my research group and projects visit our lab website: www.molecularecology.flinders.edu.au
- You might also want to visit our lab's Facebook page
- Or you might also want to check Luciano's complete publication list
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
South Australia | Northern Territory
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