Biological Sciences

I am interested in the mechanisms which shape biodiversity, from the effects of selection at individual loci, to the behavioural aspects of mate preference which may cause populations to diverge, and also the larger scale genomic processes involved in adaptive radiations. My recent work has focussed on haplochromine cichlids, since they display an incredibly diverse array of morphological and behavioural phenotypes and they seem to undergo adaptive radiations readily.

My research deals with the fascinating mating behaviour of bower-building cichlids from Lake Malawi. The males of these charismatic fish species build large and sometimes elaborate sand castles (termed bowers) under water in leks, which they aggressively defend and maintain over several weeks. Females visit the lek and choose to mate with a small number of males depending on aspects of their bowers. Finding out how habitat heterogeneity, site philopatry and mate preference affect bower form in these species will ultimately help our understanding of how species form when populations diverge, and we are doing this both in the field, and in large tropical ponds at the botanic gardens.

Brief CV

• Sept 2010-present. Lecturer. University of Hull.
• 2007 to 2010. Leverhulme Fellow, Sexual selection on an extended phenotype. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull.
• 2006 – 2007 Postdoctoral research associate, DNA forensics on a chip. Department of Chemistry, University of Hull.
• 2003 – 2006 Postdoctoral research associate, The role of hybridisation in adaptive radiation. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull and EAWAG, Switzerland.
• 2002 Lecturer (temporary), Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham.
• 2002 Postdoctoral research associate, MHC assay in guppy fish, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull
• 1999 – 2002 Postdoctoral research associate, Conservation genetics of British butterflies. School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham.
• 1996 – 1999 PhD “The use of molecular techniques in the formulation of conservation strategies for Lepidoptera” University of Birmingham (supervised by Prof. Andrew S Pullin)
• 1995 - 1996 Research Technician, John Innes Centre, Norwich
• 1992 – 1995 BSc (Hons) Ecology with Biology, University of East Anglia

Selected Publications

Joyce, Domino A, David H Lunt, Martin J Genner, George F Turner, Roger Bills and Ole Seehausen. 2011. Repeated colonization and hybridization in Lake Malawi cichlids. Current Biology 21: R108-109.

Young, Kyle A., Martin J. Genner, Domino A. Joyce, and Marcel P. Haesler. 2009. Hotshots, hot spots, and female preference: exploring lek formation models with a bower-building cichlid fish. Behavioral Ecology 20: 609-615.

Genner, Martin J, Kyle A Young, Marcel P Haesler, and Domino A Joyce. 2008. Indirect mate choice, direct mate choice and species recognition in a bower-building cichlid fish lek. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21: 1387-96.

Genner, Martin J, Ole Seehausen, Domino A Joyce, Paul W Shaw, R Carvalho, and George F Turner. 2007. Age of cichlids: new dates for ancient lake fish radiations. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24: 1269-1282.

Joyce, Domino A, David H Lunt, Roger Bills, George F Turner, Cyprian Katongo, Nina Duftner, Christian Sturmbauer, and Ole Seehausen. 2005. An extant cichlid fish radiation emerged in an extinct Pleistocene lake. Nature 435: 90-95.

Teaching