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Laura Grogan

Qualifications 

BSc(Vet) (Hons I) BVSc (Hons I) PhD

 

Position 

Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Science, School of the Environment, University of Queensland

Team Leader

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Contact details

Address: 

University of Queensland, 

Goddard (08), room 307C

St Lucia campus, Queensland

Australia 4067

Email: l.grogan"at"uq.edu.au

 

Research Overview and current projects

 

I work at the interface of disease ecology/epidemiology and pathogenesis/immunology of infectious diseases of wildlife, unpacking our understanding of the relative importance of processes occurring at these two scales for outcomes on both the individual host and host population. My current research focuses on koala chlamydiosis and amphibian chytridiomycosis. 

Background

 

I completed my Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Bachelor of Science (Veterinary) degrees at The University of Sydney. My BSc(Vet) involved research into the ecology and health of Brushtailed possums in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. I undertook my PhD degree at James Cook University (Townsville), in collaboration with Taronga Zoo Conservation Society and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research Berghofer. My PhD focused on the immunology and epidemiology of chytridiomycosis in Australian frogs. 

 

Research Keywords

 

Disease, wildlife, conservation, ecology, epidemiology, chytridiomycosis, koalas, frogs, anurans, amphibians, mark-recapture, multi-state, chlamydia, modelling

 

Career Goal

 

My career goal is to contribute to leading international developments in wildlife disease ecology/epidemiology and wildlife conservation research whilst advancing public education and improving ecosystem sustainability.

 

Supervision

 

Co-Principal supervisor

  • Madelyn Mangan (PhD candidate): "Characterizing the genetic and demographic factors responsible for varying chytridiomycosis susceptibility across amphibian species, populations and life stages"

  • Josie Humphries (PhD candidate): "Assessing the resistance of Fleay’s barred frog (Mixophyes fleayi) to chytridiomycosis using immune and transcriptomic analyses"

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Co-Supervisor​

  • John van Osta (PhD candidate): "Tracking the movement of a granivorous finch species, Poephila cincta cincta"

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​​Past Supervision

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  • Thais Sasso Lopes (PhD alumna): "Bringing together ecology and mathematical modelling to understand the recovery of amphibian populations following declines caused by the amphibian chytrid fungus"

  • Matthijs Hollanders (PhD alumnus, Southern Cross University): "Understanding chytridiomycosis: Field testing next-gen epidemiological models in an Endangered Australian frog"

  • Natalie McLeod (Honours alumna): "Call phenology and population ecology of the Kroombit Tinker frog"

  • Simon Roach (Honours alumnus, First Class Honours): "Effects of firefighting chemicals on endangered Fleay's barred frog tadpoles (Mixophyes fleayi), and influences on community ecology"

  • Stephen Molan (Honours alumnus, First Class Honours and Academic Excellence Award): "Surveying threatened tusked frog (Adelotus brevis) populations and frog communities in a sub-tropical urban-rural matrix"

  • Kate Tunstill (Honours alumna, First Class Honours): "The effect of firefighting chemicals on frog health"

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​Publications

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2024

  • van Osta, J.M., Dreis, B., Grogan, L.F., Castley, J.G. (2024) A location fingerprinting approach for the automated radio telemetry of wildlife and comparison to alternative methods. Animal Biotelemetry 12, 24. 

  • McCallum, H., Foufopoulos, J., Grogan, L.F., (2024). Infectious disease as a driver of declines and extinctions. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction 2, e2.

  • Sasso, T., McCallum, H., Newell, D., Grogan, L., (2024). Extreme climatic events modulate chytrid infection across the landscape. Biological Conservation 296, 110702.

  • Humphries, J.E., Lanctôt, C.M., McCallum, H.I., Newell, D.A., Grogan, L.F., (2024). Chytridiomycosis causes high amphibian mortality prior to the completion of metamorphosis. Environmental Research 247, 118249.

  • Lanctot, C., Grogan, L., Tunstill, K., Melvin, S. D. (accepted 08/11/2023) Metabolomic response of striped marsh frog (Limnodynastes peronii) tadpoles exposed to the fire retardant Phos-Chek LC95W. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C.​

2023​

  • van Osta, J., Dreis, B., Meyer, E., Grogan, L. F., Castley, J. G. (accepted 25th July 2023) An active learning framework and assessment of inter-annotator agreement facilitate automated recogniser development for vocalisations of a rare species, the southern black-throated finch (Poephila cincta cincta). Ecological Informatics.  

  • Hollanders, M., Grogan, L.F., McCallum, H.I., Brannelly, L. A., and Newell, D. A. (2023) Limited impact of chytridiomycosis on juvenile frogs in a recovered species. Oecologia 202, 445–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05406-w (IF 3.298).

  • Grogan, L. F., Mangan, M. J., McCallum, H. I. (2023) Amphibian infection tolerance to chytridiomycosis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0133 (IF 6.671).

  • Kerlin, D. H., Grogan, L. F., McCallum, H. I. (2023) Insights and inferences on koala conservation from records of koalas arriving to care in Southeast Queensland. Wildlife Research. 50(1):57-67. doi:10.1071/WR21181. (IF 1.410).

  • Brannelly, L. A., Scheele, B. C., Grogan, L. F. (in press) Disease and the endangered alpine tree frog: bridging research, conservation and management. Book chapter in Strategies for Conservation Success in Herpetology (ed. Walls S.C., O'Donnell K.M.) Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Herpetological Conservation Series, Vol 4. (BOOK CHAPTER). 

2022​

  • Tunstill, K., Grogan, L. F., Morrison, C., McCallum, H., Lanctôt, C. M. (2022) Effects of two firefighting chemical  formulations, Phos–Chek LC95W and BlazeTamer380, on striped marsh frog (Limodynastes peronii) tadpole survival, growth, development and behaviour. Aquatic Toxicology. 252:106326. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2022.106326 (IF 4.964). 

  • Humphries, J. E., Lanctôt, C. M., Robert, J., McCallum, H. I., Newell, D. A., Grogan, L. F. (2022) Do immune system changes at metamorphosis predict vulnerability to chytridiomycosis? An update. Developmental and Comparative Immunology. 136:104510. 10.1016/j.dci.2022.104510. (IF 3.636).

  • Hollanders, M., Grogan, L. F., Nock, C. J., McCallum, H. I., Newell, D. A. (2022) Recovered frog populations coexist with endemic Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis despite load-dependent mortality. Ecological Applications. 33(1):e2724. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2724. (IF 4.657).

2021

  • Scheele, B. C., Hollanders, M., Hoffmann, E., Newell, D., Lindenmayer, D., McFadden, M., Gilbert, D., Grogan, L. F. (2021) Conservation translocations for amphibian species threatened by chytrid fungus: A review, conceptual framework, and recommendations. Conservation Science and Practice. (IF 3.233).

  • Sasso, T., McCallum, H., Grogan, L. (2021) Occurrence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis within and between species: a review of influential variables as identified from field studies. Biological Conservation (IF 5.23). 

  • Brannelly, L. A., Webb, R. J., Jiang, Z., Berger, L., Skerratt, L. F., Grogan, L. F. (2021) Declining amphibians might be evolving increased reproductive effort in the face of devastating disease. Evolution (IF 3.573). https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14327

2020

  • Grogan L. F., Humphries J. E., Robert J., Lanctôt C. M., Nock C. J., Newell D. A., McCallum H. I. (2020) Immunological Aspects of Chytridiomycosis. Journal of Fungi. 2020; 6(4):234 (link) (IF 4.621). 

  • Flies, A. S. and Wild Comparative Immunology Consortium (inclu. Grogan, L. F.) (2020) Rewilding Immunology. Science 369(6499):37-38 (link) (IF 41.063). 

  • Brannelly L. A., McCallum H. I., Grogan L. F., Briggs C. J., Ribas M. P., Hollanders M., Sasso T., Familiar López M., Newell D. A. & Kilpatrick A. M. (early view) Mechanisms underlying host persistence following amphibian disease emergence determine appropriate management strategies. Ecology Letters (link) (IF 8.699). 

2019

  • Martin, L. B., Addison, B., Bean, A. G. D., Buchanan, K. L., Crino, O. L., Eastwood, J. R., Flies, A. S., Hamede, R., Hill, G. E., Klaassen, M., Koch, R. E., Martens, J. M., Napolitano, C., Narayan, E. J., Peacock, L., Peel, A. J., Peters, A., Raven, N., Risely, A., Roast, M. J., Rollins, L. A., Ruiz-Aravena, M., Selechnik, D., Stokes, H. S., Ujvari, B., Grogan, L. F. (2019) Extreme competence: keystone hosts of infections. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 34(4):P303-314 (link) (IF 15.938).

  • Claytor, S. C., Gummer, J., Grogan L., Skerratt, L., Webb, R., Brannelly, L., Berger, L., Roberts, A. (Early view) Susceptibility of frogs to chytridiomycosis correlates with increased levels of immunomodulatory serotonin in the skin. Cellular Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1111/cmi.13089 (link) (IF 4.410).

2018​

  • Grogan, L. F., Robert, J., Berger, L., Skerratt, L. F., Scheele, B. C., Castley, J. G., Newell, D. A., McCallum, H. I. (2018) Review of the amphibian immune response to chytridiomycosis, and future directions. Frontiers in Immunology, 9:2536, doi.org/10,3389/fimmu.2018.02536 (link) (IF 5.511).

  • Grogan, L. F., Skerratt, L. F., Berger, L., Cashins, S. D., Trengove, R. D., Gummer, J. P. A. (2018) Chytridiomycosis causes catastrophic organism-wide metabolic dysregulation including profound failure of cellular energy pathways. Scientific Reports, 8:8188, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26427-z (link) (IF 4.122).

  • Grogan, L. F., Cashins, S. D., Skerratt, L. F., Berger, L., McFadden, M. S., Harlow, P., Hunter, D. A., Scheele, B. C., Mulvenna, J. (2018) Evolution of resistance to chytridiomycosis is associated with a robust early immune response. Molecular Ecology, doi:10.1111/MEC.14493 (link) (IF 6.131).

  • ​​Grogan, L. F., Mulvenna, J., Gummer, J. P. A., Scheele, B. C., Berger, L., Cashins, S. D., McFadden, M. S., Harlow, P., Hunter, D. A., Trengove, R. D., Skerratt, L. F. (2018) Survival, gene and metabolite responses of Litoria verreauxii alpina frogs to fungal disease chytridiomycosis. Scientific Data, doi:10.1038/sdata.2018.33 (link) (IF 5.305).

  • Grogan, L. F., Peel, A. J., Kerlin, D., Ellis, W., Jones, D., Hero, J.-M., McCallum, H. (2018) Is disease a major causal factor in declines? An evidence framework and case study on koala chlamydiosis. Biological Conservation 221:334-344 (link) (IF 4.660).

  • Martel, A., Pasmans, F., Fisher, M.C., Grogan, L.F., Skerratt, L.F., Berger, L. (2018) Chytridiomycosis, in Seyedmousavi, de Hoog, Guillot, and Verweij (editors) Emerging and Epizootic Fungal Infections in Animals. Springer publishing, Switzerland (link) (BOOK CHAPTER).

2017​

  • Scheele, B. C., Skerratt, L. F., Grogan, L. F., Hunter, D. A., Clemann, N., McFadden, M., Newell, D., Hoskin, C. J., Gillespie, G. R., Heard, G. W., Brannelly, L., Roberts, A. A., Berger, L. (2017) After the epidemic: Ongoing declines, stabilizations and recoveries in amphibians afflicted by chytridiomycosis. Biological Conservation 206:37–46 (link) (IF 4.660).

  • Preece, N. D., Abell, S. E., Grogan, L., Wayne, A., Skerratt, L. F., van Oosterzee, P., Shima, A. L., Daszak, P., Field, H., Reiss, A., Berger, L., Rymer, T. L., Fisher, D. O., Lawes, M. J., Laurance, S. G., McCallum, H., Esson, C., Epstein, J. H. (2017) A guide for ecologists: Detecting the role of disease in faunal declines and managing population recovery. Biological Conservation 214:136-146 (link) (IF 4.660).

  • Grogan, L. F., Jones, D., Hero, J.-M., Ellis, W., Kerlin, D., McCallum, H. (2017) Current trends and future directions in koala chlamydial disease research. Biological Conservation 215:179-188 (link) (IF 4.660).

  • SpectralWorks Ltd. (2017) Using AnalyzerPro for Metabolomics. Application Note for mass spectrometry analysis. Accessed online: http://www.spectralworks.net/Downloads/FrogDataTutorial.pdf (21 July, 2017). (This software tutorial used my alpine tree frog (Litoria verreauxii alpina) tissue samples to demonstrate the tutorial methodologies; my contribution is acknowledged on page 15). 

2016

  • Grogan, L. F., Phillott, A. D., Scheele, B. C., Berger, L., Cashins, S. D., Bell, S. C., Puschendorf, R., and Skerratt, L. F. (2016). Endemicity of chytridiomycosis features pathogen overdispersion. Journal of Animal Ecology 85(3):806-16; doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12500) (link) (IF 4.460).

2015

  • Bataille, A., Cashins, S., Grogan, L., Skerratt, L., Hunter, D., McFaddan, M., Scheele, B., Brannelly, L., Macris, A., Harlow, P., Bell, S., Berger, L., Waldman, B. (2015). Susceptibility of amphibians to chytridiomycosis is associated with MHC class II conformation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282:20143127 (link) (IF 4.847).

2014

  • Grogan, L. F., Berger, L., Rose, K., Grillo, V., Cashins, S. D., Skerratt, L. F. (2014). Surveillance for emerging biodiversity diseases of wildlife. PLoS Pathogens, 10(5):e1004015 (link) (IF 6.158).

  • Scheele, B. C., Hunter, D., Grogan, L., Berger, L., Kolby, J., McFadden, M., Marantelli, G., Skerratt, L., Driscoll, D. (2014) Interventions for reducing extinction risk in chytridiomycosis-threatened amphibians. Conservation Biology 28(5):1195-1205 (link) (IF 5.890).

2013

  • Cashins, S. D., L. F. Grogan, M. McFadden, D. Hunter, P. S. Harlow, L. Berger and L. F. Skerratt. (2013). Prior infection does not improve survival against the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis. Plos One 8: 7 (link) (IF 2.766).

  • Phillott, A. D., L. F. Grogan, S. D. Cashins, K. R. McDonald, L. Berger and L. F. Skerratt. (2013). Chytridiomycosis and seasonal mortality of tropical stream-associated frogs 15 years after introduction of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Conservation Biology 27:1058-1068 (link) (IF 5.890) (Please note: L.F.G. was corresponding author, did the analysis and wrote the paper).

2010

  • Piermarini, P.M., Grogan, L.F., Lau, K., Wang, L., Beyenbach, K.W. (2010). A SLC4-like anion exchanger from renal tubules of the mosquito (Aedes aegypti): evidence for a novel role of stellate cells in diuretic fluid secretion, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 298:R642-R660 (link) (IF 3.082).

2009

  • Piermarini, PM, Grogan, LF, Wang, L, Beyenbach, KW (2009) The other half of the insect SLC4 family: a Cl/HCO3 anion exchanger from mosquito renal tubules. The FASEB Journal, 23(1_MeetingAbstracts):800.4 (link) (IF 5.595).

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​Academic experience and education and training

 

  • 2024 to present - Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Science, School of the Environment, University of Queensland (St Lucia campus, QLD, Australia)

  • 2022-2024 - ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus, QLD, Australia)

  • 2015-2024 - Lecturer and Sessional Lecturer (3331ENV Ecology and Conservation of Populations, 3992SCG Science Capstone Course, 3608ENV Wildlife Ecology Field Course, 3607ENV Vertebrate Biology, 2303ENV Zoology, and 2251ENV Animal Diversity)

  • 2021-2022 - ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus, QLD, Australia)

  • 2015-2021 - Research Fellow, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University (Nathan Campus, QLD, Australia)

  • 2010-2014 - Doctor of Philosophy (Wildlife Epidemiology), James Cook University (Townsville, Queensland, Australia), Supervisors: Dr. Lee Skerratt, Dr. Richard Speare, Dr. Lee Berger, Dr. Erica Rosenblum, Dr. Scott Cashins

  • 2006-2007 - Bachelor of Veterinary Science (4th and 5th years), University of Sydney, Australia, Weighted Average Mark (WAM) as at completion of 4th year: 81.16, Awarded: BVSc with First Class Honours 14th December 2007

  • 2005 - Bachelor of Science (Veterinary), University of Sydney, Australia, Supervisor: Assoc Prof Tony English. Thesis: “Management Strategies for Brushtail Possums in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney”, Mark: High distinction, mark of 85, 

       Awarded: BSc(Vet) with First Class Honours 15th December 2006

  • 2002-2004 - Bachelor of Veterinary Science (1st to 3rd year), University of Sydney, Australia

  • 2001 - Higher School Certificate (HSC), Dux of Trinity Catholic College, Lismore, NSW, Australia, Universities Admission Index (UAI): 99.9, Subjects undertaken included Mathematics Extension 2, Mathematics Extension 1, Physics, Chemistry, English Extension 1, Advanced English, Drama, Studies of Religion

 

Professional Memberships

 

  • International Wildlife Disease Association (Australasian section)

  • Wildlife Health Australia (formerly Australian Wildlife Health Network)

  • Birdlife Australia

  • Sydney University Veterinary Society

 

Links

 

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Photographing birds at Bowra Sanctuary. Photo credit: Thais Sasso Lopes

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