Rate My Professor Natasha Lebas

Dr Natasha Lebas serves as a Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Western Australia. She holds a BSc and PhD from the same institution, with her doctoral degree awarded by the School of Animal Biology in 2001. Lebas commenced her postdoctoral career internationally, holding positions at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden from February to May 2001, the University of St Andrews in Scotland from May 2001 to April 2002 and again as a NERC Research Fellow from August 2002 to October 2004, and the University of Wales from April to August 2002. In November 2004, she returned to UWA to take up an ARC Research Fellowship, working part-time until May 2012. During a subsequent career break from 2012 to 2022 for parenting and illness—while holding an Adjunct Lecturer position—she resumed her role as Research Fellow in 2022.

Lebas is an evolutionary biologist whose research interests lie at the intersection of behavioural ecology and conservation. Key areas include sexual selection, conservation genetics, female ornamentation, evolutionary stable strategies, mutation loads, the evolution of colour signals, predator-free havens, nuptial gift evolution, and developmental integration. She has secured major grants such as the 2025 ARC Discovery Project ($631,860), 2024 Saving Native Species Grant ($426,497 for protecting the Yinnietharra rock dragon), 2022 ARC Discovery Project ($563,312), 2003 ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship ($285,000), and 2002 NERC Research Fellowship ($355,000). With over 1,814 citations on Google Scholar, her work has significantly influenced the field.

Notable publications comprise "Evolution of female ornamentation in dance flies: valuable gifts are worth dressing up for" (2026), "The best of both worlds: why antipredator traits are lost in predator-free havens and how to keep them" (2025), "Parasite load and MHC diversity in undisturbed and agriculturally modified habitats of the ornate dragon lizard" (2014), "Phylogeography and Population Genetic Structure of the Ornate Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus ornatus" (2012), "Habitat Complexity Drives Experimental Evolution of a Conditionally Expressed Secondary Sexual Trait" (2011), "Positive Allometry and the Prehistory of Sexual Selection" (2010), and "Female finery is not for males" (2006). These contributions elucidate evolutionary adaptations, genetic connectivity in fragmented habitats, and sexual selection mechanisms.