Danielle Dixson

Post-doctoral Fellow
Advisor: Mark Hay, PhD

PhD, James Cook University, Australia (2012)
BSc: Marine Science, Biological Sciences (major), Chemistry and Environmental Science (minor), University of Tampa, USA (2005)

310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta GA 30332-0002 USA
School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology


Phone: (+1) 404 385-4438
Skype: danielle.dixson
* often in the field so e-mail or skype is the best way to contact


About Me

I completed my undergraduate bachelor’s degree at the University of Tampa.  Here I was able to become involved in an on-going research project looking at the population dynamics of the sygnathid species found in the seagrass beds of Tampa Bay under the supervision of Dr. Heather Masonjones.  After graduating from UT, I moved to Townsville, Queensland in Australia to conduct my PhD work at James Cook University.  For my PhD I shifted focus, studying the use of olfactory cues in larval settlement site selection of coral reef fishes.  The majority of my work focused on the use of chemical cues in predator detection, specific benthic habitat detection, and general reef selection by anemonefish species as well as other common coral reef fishes.  My PhD work was conducted in the reefs of Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea and at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  This research was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Jones, Prof. Philip Munday and Prof. Morgan Pratchett.  While conducting my PhD, I collaborated with Prof. Philip Munday to examine the effect ocean acidification has on the olfactory system and behavior of coral reef fishes.

Research Interests

  • Larval olfaction
  • Settlement site selection
  • Marine Connectivity
  • Animal Behavior
  • Predator/Prey Relationships
  • Ecosystem connectivity (Terrestrial/Marine Chemical Interactions)
  • Olfactory imprinting in coral reef fish larvae
  • Anthropogenic changes in Marine Systems
  • Marine Conservation

Published Work

Dixson, D.L., Jones, G.P., Munday, P.L., Planes, S., Pratchett, M.S., Srinivasan, M., Syms, C. and S.R. Thorrold. 2008. Coral reef fish smell leaves to find island homes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: 275: 2831-2839
*Munday, P.L., Dixson, D.L., Donelson, J.M., Jones, G.P., and M. Pratchett et al. 2009. Ocean acidification disrupts olfactory discrimination and homing ability of marine fish. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 106(6): 1848-1852
Munday, P.L., Donelson, J.M., Dixson, D.L., and G.G.K. Endo. 2009. Effects of ocean acidification on the early life history of a tropical marine fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: 276: 3275-3283
*Dixson, D.L., Munday, P.L. and G.P. Jones. 2010. Innate ability of fish larvae to chemically detect predators is threatened by ocean acidification. Ecology Letters. 13: 68-75.
Masonjones. M.D., Rose, E., McRae, L.K. and D.L. Dixson. 2010. Potential anthropogenic effects of the population biology of syngnathid fishes of Tampa Bay: measuring the impacts of marina construction on fish demographics. Current Zoology. 56(1): 118-133
Munday, P.L., Dixson, D.L., McCormick, M.I., Meekan, M., Ferrari, M.C.O., and D.P. Chivers. 2010. Replenishment of fish populations is threatened by ocean acidification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 107(29): 12930-12934
Munday, P.L., Gagliano, M., Donelson, J.M., Dixson, D.L. and S.R. Thorrold. 2011. Ocean acidification does not affect the early life history development of a tropical marine fish. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 423: 211-221
Munday, P. L., Hernaman, V., Dixson, D.L. and S.R. Thorrold. 2011. Effect of ocean acidification on otolith development in larvae of a tropical marine fish. Biogeosciences 8, 2329-2356 (doi:10.5194/bgd-8-2329-2011)
Ferrari M.C.O., Dixson, D.L., Munday, P.L., McCormick, M.I., Meekan, M.G., Sih, A. and D. P. Chivers. 2011. Integeneric variation in anti-predator responses of coral reef fishes to ocean acidification: implications of projecting climate change on marine communities. Global Change Biology. 17, 2980-2986
Leis, J.M., Siebeck, U., Dixson, D.L. 2011. How Nemo Finds Home: the Neuroecology of Dispersal and of Population Connectivity in Larvae of Marine Fishes. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 51(5): 826-843. (doi: 10.1093/icb/ICR004)
Dixson, D.L., Munday, P.L., and G.P. Jones. 2011. Ontogenetic development of olfactory cue use in coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs. 30(4): 903-910. (doi: 10.1007/s00338-011-0776-9)
Simpson, S., Munday, P.L. Wittenrich, M., Manassa, R., Dixson, D.L., Gagilano, M., and H. Yan. 2011. Ocean acidification erodes auditory behavior in a marine fish. Biology Letters. 7(6): 917-920. (doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0293).
Ferrari M.C.O., McCormick, M.I., Munday P.L., Meekan, M.G., Dixson, D.L., Lonnstedt, O. and D.P. Chivers. 2011. Putting prey and predator into the CO2 equation- qualitative and quantitative effects of ocean acidification on predator prey interactions. Ecology Letters. 14(11): 1143-1148. (doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01683.x).
Dixson, D.L., Jones, G.P., Munday, P.L., Pratchett, M.S., Srinivasan, M., Planes, S. and S.R. Thorrold. 2011 Terrestrial chemical cues help coral reef fish larvae locate settlement habitat surrounding islands. Ecology and Evolution. 1(4). 595-586 (doi: 10.1002/ece3.53)
Dixson, D.L. 2011. Risk assessment by larval fishes during settlement site selection. Coral Reefs. In Press. (doi: 10.1007/s00338-011-0842-3)
Nilsson, G.E., Dixson, D.L., Domenici, P., McCormick, M.I., Sørensen, C. Watson, S., Munday P.L 2011. Near-future CO2 levels alter fish behaviour by interference with neurotransmitter function. Natural Climate Change. In Press. (doi: 10.1038/nclimate1352)
Ferrari M.C.O., McCormick, M.I., Munday, P.L., Meekan M.G., Dixson, D.L., Lönnstedt O. Chivers D.P. 2012. Effects of ocean acidification on visual risk assessment in coral reef fishes. Functional Ecology. In Press. (doi: 10.1111/j.1365.2435.2011.01951.x)
Ferrari M.C.O., Manassa, R.P., Dixson, D.L., Munday, P.L., McCormick M.I., Meekan, M.G., Sih, A., Chivers, D.P. 2012. Effects of ocean acidification on learning in coral reef fishes. PLoS One 7(2): e11478. (doi: 10.1371.journal.pone.0031478)
Dixson, D.L., Pratchett, M.S., Munday, P.L. 2012. Reef fishes distinguish predators based olfactory cues associated with recent prey items rather than innate recognition of individual species. Animal Behaviour. 84: 45-51. (doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.04.001)

* ISI Highly Cited List for Ocean Acidification

Research Highlighted

Cobb M. 2011. Acid seas block nemo’s nose. Journal of Experimental Biology. (doi: 10.1242/jeb.036780)
Strong A., Levin K., Tirpak D., 2011. Climate Science 2009-2010 major new discoveries. World Resource Institute. pp 1-48
Wisenden B.D. 2012. Cognitive dysfunction and risk assessment by prey: predictable changes in global climate have unpredictable effects. Functional Ecology. (doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01956.x).