Professor Steven Cooper
| Position | University Senior Research Fellow |
|---|---|
| Org Unit | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology |
| steven.cooper@adelaide.edu.au | |
| Telephone | 831 35575 |
| Location |
Floor/Room
210E
,
Darling
,
North Terrace
|
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Biography/ Background
Professor Steven Cooper is a Principal Researcher at the South Australian Museum and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, where he is a member of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology discipline in the School of Biological Sciences. His research investigates the diversity, evolution and molecular ecology of Australian fauna, with a strong focus on subterranean and groundwater invertebrate fauna from the arid zone of Australia.
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Awards & Achievements
He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship in 2003 for research on subterranean faunas and was a visiting Conviron Fellow at the University of Sheffield, UK in 2008.
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Research Interests
1. Species discovery and molecular systematics: particularly, documenting the invertebrate fauna associated with subterranean and groundwater ecosystems.
2. Phylogeography of Australian fauna: the biogeographic history of organisms and factors that influence speciation. Current focus groups include subterranean invertebrates, such as dytiscid beetles, morabine grasshoppers and the reptile Tiliqua rugosa.
3. The molecular evolution of subterranean fauna (Major project on the evolution of subterranean beetles in central WA, using genomic analyses)
4. Conservation/ population genetics studies of reptiles, marsupials (bandicoots and gliders) and spiders: resolving taxonomic issues and population genetic analyses for conservation management.
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Publications
Cremona T., Baker A. M., Cooper S. J. B., Montague-Drake R., Stobo-Wilson A. M. & Carthew S. M. (2021) Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191: 503-527.
Langille B.L., Hyde J., Saint K.M., Bradford T.M., Stringer D.N., Tierney S.M., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D., & Cooper S.J.B. (2021) Evidence for speciation underground in diving beetles (Dytiscidae) from a subterranean archipelago Evolution 75: 166-175.
Thavornkanlapachai R., Levy E., Li Y, Cooper S. J. B., Byrne M. & Ottewell K. (2021) Disentangling the genetic relationships of three closely-related bandicoot species across southern and western Australia. Diversity 13: 2. .
Saccò M., Blyth A. J., Humphreys W.F., Cooper S. J. B., et al. (2021) Rainfall as a trigger of ecological cascade effects in an Australian groundwater ecosystem. Scientific Reports 11: 3694.
Watts C.H.S., Bradford T.M., & Cooper S.J.B. (2021) A new genus, Perplexacara, and new generic placements of species of Australian marsh beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) based on morphology and analysis of gene sequence data. Zootaxa 4927(4): 539-548. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4927.4.4
Stringer D.N., Bertozzi T., Meusemann K., Delean S., Guzik M.T., Tierney S.M., Mayer C., Cooper S.J.B., Zwick A., & Austin A.D. (2021) Development and evaluation of a custom bait design based on 469 single-copy protein-coding genes for exon capture of isopods (Philosciidae: Haloniscus). PLoS One 16(9): e0256861. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256861
Jones K.K., Humphreys W.F., Saccò M., Bertozzi T., Austin A.D. & Cooper S.J.B. (2021) The critical thermal maximum of diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae): a comparison of subterranean and surface-dwelling species. Current Research in Insect Science 100019.
Beasley-Hall P.G., Bertozzi T., Bradford T.M., Foster C.S.P., Jones K., Tierney S.M., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D., Cooper S.J.B. (2022) Differential transcriptomic responses to heat stress in surface and subterranean diving beetles. Scientific Reports 12: 16194.
Berris K.K., Cooper S.J.B., Breed W.G., Berris J. & Carthew S.M. (2022) Burrow use in bilbies in southern South Australia. Australian Mammalogy 44: 256–265.
Ferreira R.L., Bernard E., da Cruz Júnior F.W. et al. (2022) Brazilian cave heritage under siege. Science 375(6586): 1238-9. Doi: 10.1126/science.abo1973.
King R.A., Fagan-Jeffries E., Bradford T.M., Stringer D.N., Finston T.L., Halse S.A., Eberhard S.M., Humphreys G., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D. & Cooper S.J.B. (2022) Cryptic Diversity Down Under: defining species in the subterranean amphipod genus Nedsia Barnard and Williams (Hadzioidea: Eriopisidae) from the Pilbara, Western Australia. Invertebrate Systematics 36 (2): 113–159. doi:10.1071/IS21041.
Saccò M., Guzik M., van der Heyde M., Nevill P., Cooper S.J.B., Austin A.D., Coates P.J., Allentoft M.E. & White, N.E. (2022) eDNA in subterranean ecosystems: applications, technical aspects and future prospects. Science of the Total Environment 820, 153223.
Bradford T.M., Ruta R., Cooper S.J.B., Libonatti M.L. & Watts C.H.S. (2022) Evolutionary history of the Australasian Scirtinae (Scirtidae; Coleoptera) inferred from ultraconserved elements. Invertebrate Systematics 36, 291-305.
Langille B.L., Tierney, S.M., Bertozzi T., Beasley-Hall P.G., Bradford, T.M., Fagan-Jeffries E.P., Hyde J., Leijs R., Richardson M., Saint, K.M., Stringer D.N., Villastrigo A., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D. & Cooper S.J.B. (2022) Parallel decay of vision genes in subterranean water beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 173(5): 107522.
Beasley-Hall P.G., Bertozzi T., Bradford T.M., Foster C.S.P., Jones K., Tierney S.M., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D., & Cooper S.J.B. (2022) Differential transcriptomic responses to heat stress in surface and subterranean diving beetles. Scientific Reports 12: 16194.
Austin A.D., Guzik M.T., Jones K.K., Humphreys W.F., Watts C.H.S. & Cooper S.J.B. (2023) The Unique Australian Subterranean Dytiscidae: Diversity, Biology and Evolution. In: (D. Yee, ed.) Ecology, Systematics, and the Natural History of Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), Springer.
Cooper S.J.B., Fišer C., Zakšek V., DeliÄÂ T., Borko Š., Faille A., & Humphreys W.F. (2023) Phylogenies reveal speciation dynamics: case studies from groundwater. In: Malard F., Griebler C., Retaux S. (Eds.) Groundwater Ecology and Evolution, Pp 165-183, Elsevier.
Cooper S.J.B., Travouillon K., Helgen K.M., Saint K., Russell R. & Winter J. (2023) Reassessment of the subspecific status of the Australian Wet Tropics yellow-bellied glider, Petaurus australis. Australian Mammalogy 45(2): 220–236.
Beasley-Hall P.G., Murphy N.P., King R.A., White N.E., Hedges B.A., Cooper S.J.B., Austin A.D., & Guzik M.T. (2023) Time capsules of biodiversity: future research directions for groundwater-dependent ecosystems of the Great Artesian Basin. Frontiers in Environmental 10:1021987.
Malard F., Garcia Machado E., Casane D., Cooper S., Fišer C., & Eme D. (2023) Dispersal and geographic range size in groundwater. In: Malard F., Griebler C., Retaux S. (Eds.) Groundwater Ecology and Evolution, Pp. 185-207, Elsevier, Academic Press.
Perina G., Camacho A.I., Cooper S.J.B., Floeckner S., Blyth A.J., & Saccò M. (2023) An integrated approach to explore the monophyletic status of the cosmopolitan genus Hexabathynella (Crustacea, Bathynellacea, Parabathynellidae): two new species from Rottnest Island (Wadjemup), Western Australia. Systematics and Biodiversity 21(1): 2151662, DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2022.2151662.
Marsh J.R., Bradford T.M. & Cooper S.J.B. (2023) Strong population genetic structure for the endangered micro-trapdoor spider Moggridgea rainbowi (Mygalomorphae, Migidae) in unburnt habitat after catastrophic bushfires. Diversity 15:827.
McClelland A.R., Austin A.D., Rodriguez J., Cooper, S.J.B., Fagan-Jeffries E.P. (2023) Integrative and accelerated taxonomy recognises a new species of Psyllaephagus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), parasitic on Lasiopsylla striata (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) from Australia. Australian Journal of Taxonomy 17: 1–12. doi:
Watts C.H.S., Villastrigo A., Langille B.L., Stringer D.N., Bradford T.M., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D., Balke M., & Cooper S.J.B. (2023) Phylogenetic placement and description of Ngaliadessus humphreysi gen. et sp. nov. Watts and Villastrigo (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), a subterranean diving beetle from the Ngalia Basin in central Australia. Austral Entomology 62: 300–309.
Javidkar M., Cooper S.J.B., Bousjein N.S., Humphreys W.F, King R.A., Austin A.D. (2023) Evolution of endoglucanase genes in subterranean and surface isopod crustaceans from central Western Australia. Ecology and Evolution 13(10): e10552.
Balart-Garcia P., Aristide L., Bradford T.M., Beasley-Hall P.G., Polak S., Ribera I., Cooper S.J.B. & Fernández R. (2023) Parallel and convergent genomic changes underlie independent subterranean colonization across beetles. Nature Communications 14:3842. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39603-1
Balart-García P., Bradford T.M., Beasley-Hall P.G., Polak S., Ribera I., Cooper S.J.B. & Fernández R. (2024) Highly dynamic evolution of the chemosensory gene repertoire driven by gene gain and expansion across subterranean beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 194: 108027.
Zhao Y., Guzik M.T., Humphreys W.F., Watts C.H.S., Cooper S.J.B., & Sherratt E. (2024) Evolutionary transition from surface to subterranean living in Australian water beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae) through adaptive and relaxed selection. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 142: 280–293.
Saccò M., Mammola S., et al. (2024) Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem. Global Change Biology 30(1): e17066.
Li X., Jayaprasad S., Einarsdottir E., Cooper S.J.B., Suh A., Kawakami T. & Palacios-Gimenez O.M. (2024) Chromosome-level genome assembly of the morabine grasshopper Vandiemenella viatica race 19. Scientific Data 11, 997.
Beasley-Hall P.G., Hedges B.A., Cooper S.J.B., Austin A.D. & Guzik M.T. (2024) A comprehensive review of South Australia’s Great Artesian Basin spring and discharge wetlands biota. Marine and Freshwater Research 75, MF24118.
Jayaprasad S., et al. (2024) Orthopteran neo-sex chromosomes reveal dynamics of recombination suppression and evolution of supergenes. Molecular Ecology e17567.
King R.A., Cooper S.J.B., Schwartz B., Leijs R., Stringer D.N., Humphreys W.F., Thornhill J. & Guzik M.T. (2024) Diversity and distribution of Australian stygobiont and other groundwater-associated amphipods (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Peracarida). Diversity
Villastrigo A., Cooper S.J.B., Langille B., Fagan-Jeffries E.P., Humphreys W.F., Hendrich L., & Balke M. (2024) Aridification and geotectonic landscape change shaped an extraordinary species radiation across a world’s extreme elevational gradient. Communications Biology 7:1500.
Black J.G., Cooper S.J.B., Schmidt T.L. & Weeks A.R. (2024) Simulating genetic mixing in strongly structured populations of the threatened southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus). Evolutionary Applications 17:e70050.
Frankenberg S.R., et al. (2025) Unearthing the secrets of Australia’s most enigmatic and cryptic mammal, the marsupial mole. Science Advances 11: eado4140.
Beasley-Hall P.G., Trewick S.A., Eberhard S.M., Zwick A., Reed E.H., Cooper S.J.B. & Austin A.D.(2025) Molecular phylogenetics illuminates evolutionary history and hidden diversity of Australian cave crickets (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae). Systematic Entomology (online early).
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Professional Associations
Editor of the CSIRO journal Australian Journal of Zoology.
Associate Editor, Current Zoology
Member of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists, Evolution Society, and Genetics Society of Australasia.
Member of the International Society for Subterranean Biologists
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Entry last updated: Friday, 27 Jun 2025
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