Leigh Marine Laboratory
Dr Agnes LePort
Post Doctoral Fellow
PhD Auckland (2009)
MSc Auckland (2003)
BSc James Cook (2000)
Contact details
Phone +64 9 373 7599 ext 71762
Email: a.leport@auckland.ac.nz
As our knowledge of marine population dynamics slowly increases, it has become evident that these systems are much more complex than previously thought due mainly to unexpected behavioural patterns in species and the influence of multiple environmental factors contributing to those behaviours.
My interests lie in the use of multidisciplinary approaches to investigate connectivity and migratory pathways between marine populations. This allows for a number of interesting biological questions to be addressed. For example, my PhD research combined DNA analysis with ecological and tagging data to better understand the population biology, evolution and ecology of two stingray species (Dasyatis brevicaudata, D. thetidis) in New Zealand and throughout their southern hemisphere distribution. My current focus is on the larval dispersal, and population connectivity of coastal fish species (namely snapper (Pagrus auratus)), and their link to the management of marine species.
- Le Port A., and Lavery, S. (accepted) Phylogeography and population structure of the short-tailed stingray (Dasyatis brevicaudata, Dasyatidae) in the Southern Hemisphere using mtDNA control region. Journal of Heredity. doi:jhered/esr131
- McLeod I., Parsons D., Morrison M., Le Port A., and Taylor R.B. (accepted) Factors affecting the recovery of soft-sediment mussel reefs in the Firth of Thames, New Zealand. Marine and Freshwater Research.
- Le Port A., Sippel T., and Montgomery J.C. (2008) Observations of mesoscale movements in the short-tail stingray, Dasyatis brevicaudata from New Zealand using a novel PSAT tag attachment method. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 359: 110-117.
- Le Port A., Montgomery, J.C., Lavery, S., and Montgomery J.C. (In review). Conservation of coastal stingrays: seasonal abundance and population structure of the short-tailed stingray Dasyatis brevicaudata at a Marine Protected Area. ICES Journal of Marine Science.
