Rate My Professor Jennifer Chaplin

Jennifer Chaplin is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences at Murdoch University. Her research centers on the taxonomy, ecology, and evolutionary history of salt lake invertebrates, particularly giant ostracods and halophilic macroinvertebrates, as well as population genetics and connectivity in fishes. She investigates biodiversity in Australian salt lakes, extreme salinity tolerance in species like Coxiella gastropods, and molecular phylogenies of ostracods such as Mytilocypris and Mytilocypridinae. Chaplin has made contributions to understanding species boundaries, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of aquatic species, including sawfishes, snapper, and shark product trade mislabelling.

Throughout her career at Murdoch University, Chaplin has supervised multiple postgraduate students on theses addressing key ecological and genetic topics, including 'Taxonomy, phylogeography and ecology of giant ostracods (Crustacea: Cyprididae)' by Md Aminul Islam (Doctor of Philosophy, 2025), 'Investigations into the taxonomy, phylogeography and history of Parartemia' by Aminul Islam (2025), 'Perspectives on the consumption of shark products' by R. Hasan (2025), 'Conservation genetics of Pristis sawfishes in Australian waters' by N. Phillips (2012), 'Genetic implications of culturing Australasian snapper' by N. Prokop (2015), and 'Artificial Reefs: Types, applications, trends in deployment' by T. Bateman (2015). Her key publications include 'The biology of giant ostracods (Crustacea, Cyprididae), a review focusing on the Mytilocypridinae from Australian inland waters' (Rahman et al., 2022), 'Biology and conservation of the unique and diverse halophilic macroinvertebrates of Australian salt lakes' (Lawrie et al., 2021), 'Phylogenetic assessment of the halophilic Australian ostracod Mytilocypris' (Lawrie et al., 2023), 'Consumption of shark products: The interface of sustainability, trade (mis)labelling, human health and conservation' (Hasan et al., 2023), 'Experimental and field evidence suggests extreme salinity tolerance in Australian Coxiella gastropods' (Lawrie et al., 2023), 'A molecular assessment of species boundaries and relationships in the Australian fairy shrimp Parartemia' (Islam et al., 2024), and 'Unravelling the biodiversity of Australian salt lakes: molecular phylogeny of Mytilocypridinae giant ostracods' (Rahman et al., 2025). Earlier, she served as Principal Investigator on Fisheries Research and Development Corporation projects examining genetic stock structure of Australasian snapper and blue swimmer crab. Chaplin has also held the role of Deputy Chair of the Student Appeals Committee at Murdoch University and received PhD project funding for evaluating shark product labelling authenticity (2021-2023).