Research Output per year
Personal profile
Biography
I received my PhD from Nottingham University in 1986 and held a series of postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Liverpool until 1995 when I moved to UWA. I received an ARC Federation Fellowship in 2004 and was elected to the Australian Academy in 2009. I am Editor-in-Chief of the journal Behavioral Ecology, Editor of Advances in the Study of Behavior, and on the editorial board of Journal of Ethology.
My research uses both vertebrates and invertebrates to test the predictions and assumptions of theoretical models of sexual selection and life history evolution.
I currently hold two ARC Discovery Project grants that fund research into sperm competition and the evolution of multiple mating by females using insects, mice and frogs as model systems. I am also engaged in research on sexual selection on humans. Collectively, these research programs seek to determine the direction and strength of selection acting on male and female reproductive strategies, and on the morphological and life history traits that contribute to fitness, from the whole organism to its gametes. My lab currently hosts collaborative research programs involving 7 PhD students and 6 postdoctoral researchers, and has hosted research fellows from Sweden, Finland, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Opportunities are available for researchers at all levels, and I encourage interested individuals to apply under the schemes outlined on our Courses page.
Available now
Sexual Selection: A Vert Short Introduction. By Marlene Zuk and Leigh W Simmons. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Research
Sexual Selection
Sperm Competition
Ecological Immunology
Animal Genitalia
Alternative Mating tactics
Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics
Human Behavioural Ecology
Sperm Competition
Ecological Immunology
Animal Genitalia
Alternative Mating tactics
Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics
Human Behavioural Ecology
Funding overview
Current Funding
ARC Discovery Project (2016-2019). Paternal effects: non-genetic inheritance via seminal fluid?
ARC Discovery Project (2017-2019). Evolution of the mammalian baculum.
Teaching overview
Behavioural Ecology (ANIM3365)
Evolutionary Biology (ANIM5502)
Evolutionary Biology (ANIM5502)
Keywords
- Behavioural ecology
- Evolutionary biology
- Sperm competition
- Sexual selection
- Entomology
- Insects
- Evolutionary psychology
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Network
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Research Output
A link between heritable parasite resistance and mate choice in dung beetles
Buzatto, B. A., Kotiaho, J. S., Assis, L. A. F. & Simmons, L. W., 28 Sep 2019, In : Behavioral Ecology. 30, 5, p. 1382-1387 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Ecological determinants of sex roles and female sexual selection
Hare, R. M. & Simmons, L. W., 16 Dec 2019, Advances in the Study of Behavior. Netherlands: Elsevier, (Advances in the Study of Behavior).Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference paper › Chapter
Experimental evidence for the role of sexual selection in the evolution of cuticular hydrocarbons in the dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus
Berson, J. D., Garcia-Gonzalez, F. & Simmons, L. W., 1 Nov 2019, In : Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 32, 11, p. 1186-1193 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Experimental evolution reveals divergence in female genital teeth morphology in response to sexual conflict intensity in a moth
McNamara, K. B., Dougherty, L. R., Wedell, N. & Simmons, L. W., 1 May 2019, In : Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 32, 5, p. 519-524 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
3
Citations
(Scopus)
Female cuticular hydrocarbons can signal indirect fecundity benefits in an insect
Berson, J. D. & Simmons, L. W., 1 May 2019, In : Evolution. 73, 5, p. 982-989 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
4
Citations
(Scopus)
Datasets
Data from: Sexual selection shapes seminal vesicle secretion gene expression in house mice
Simmons, L. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 4 Dec 2019
Dataset
File
Data from Simmons et al. 2018 Dietary antioxidants, but not courtship effort, affect oxidative balance in the testes and muscles of crickets
Simmons, L. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 3 Jul 2018
Dataset
File
Data from: Putative sex-specific human pheromones do not affect gender perception, attractiveness ratings, or unfaithfulness judgements of opposite sex faces
Simmons, L. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 27 Feb 2017
Dataset
File
Data from: Sperm competition in humans: mate guarding behavior negatively correlates with ejaculate quality
Simmons, L. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 14 Aug 2014
Dataset
File
Data from: Men's sexual faithfulness judgements may contain a kernal of truth
Leivers, S. (Creator), Rhodes, G. (Creator), Simmons, L. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 10 Jul 2015
Dataset
File
Projects
Dung beetle ecosystem engineers: taking the science to the paddock
Berson, J., Kennington, J., Simmons, L., Didham, R. & Evans, T.
University of Western Australia
1/01/20 → 31/12/20
Project: Research
Taxonomy, conservation systematics and speciation in the megadiverse millipede genus Antichiropus (Paradoxosomatidae)
Simmons, L., Harvey, M., Huey, J. & Car, C.
Department of the Environment and Energy
1/07/17 → 30/06/20
Project: Research