Dr Fabio Cortesi
UQ Amplify Lecturer
School of the Environment
Researcher biography
Doctor Cortesi was awarded a Bachelor of Science with a Major in Plant and Animal Biology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 2008. He completed a Bachelor of Science with 1st Class Honours in Marine Biology in 2009 at the University of Queensland, Australia, researching the colourful displays and toxic defences of sea slugs. He then received a PhD with Summa Cum Laude in Zoology in 2014 from the University of Basel, Switzerland, studying the molecular and behavioural function of colourful signals in coral reef fishes.
After completing his remaining Swiss National Service duties, Doctor Cortesi moved to Australia in 2015 to start a short-term postdoctoral appointment at the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland. Upon winning prestigious postdoctoral Fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Queensland, he transferred to the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) in early 2016, where he developed his leadership skills under the supervision of Emr. Professor Justin Marshall. In 2020, Dr Cortesi received an ARC DECRA Fellowship, which enabled him to start his junior group under the mentorship of Emr. Prof. Marshall and A/Prof Karen Cheney from The School of the Environment (SENV), UQ. Beginning in 2023, he leads the greater Sensory Neuroscience Lab between QBI and SENV as part of UQ's Marine Sensory Ecology Group.
His research is, amongst others, funded by the SeaWorld Research and Rescue Foundation and the ARC.
Doctor Cortesi's main interests lie in the forces, from molecule to environment, which shape natural biodiversity. Focusing on the evolution of visual systems in fishes and cephalopods, he is trying to understand how other animals perceive the world, how this contributes to the formation of colours and patterns and how this can lead to species diversity. He uses various methods to understand how vision shapes single species and whole communities, including single-cell sequencing, transgenesis experiments, neurophysiological assessments of visual systems and behavioural experimentation.
Publications
Book Chapters
Mitchell, Laurie John Lee, Yamanaka, Sakuto, Kinoshita, Masato and Cortesi, Fabio (2022). The Use of Modern Genetic Tools in Anemonefishes. Evolution, Development and Ecology of Anemonefishes. (pp. 41-52) Boca Raton: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781003125365-6
Cortesi, Fabio, Tettamanti, Valerio and Busserolles, Fanny de (2022). The Visual Ecology of Anemonefishes. Evolution, Development and Ecology of Anemonefishes. (pp. 87-94) Boca Raton: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781003125365-11
Williams, Samuel M., Holmes, Bonnie J., Barnett, Adam, Rogers, Troy, Fetterplace, Lachlan, Middleton, Heather, Mitchell, Jonathan, Sih, Tiffany, Harasti, David, Sheaves, Marcus, Henderson, Christopher J., Tibbetts, Ian R., Mitchell, Laurie , Martin, Tyson, Pepperell, Julian, Moore, Andy, Skelton, Megan, Taylor, Matthew, Gilby, Ben L., Chargulaf, Craig, Cortesi, Fabio, Currey-Randall, Leanne M., Tracey, Sean, Rabbitt, Sheridan and Campbell, Matthew (2022). Marine fishes. Wildlife research in Australia: practical and applied methods. (pp. 519-542) edited by Bradley Smith, Helen Waudby, Corinne Alberthsen and Jordan Hampton. Clayton South, VIC, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. doi: 10.1071/9781486313457
Journal Articles
Shaughnessy, Abigail and Cortesi, Fabio (2024). Coral reef fish visual adaptations to a changing world. Functional Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.14668
Schmid, Sarah, Bachmann Salvy, Marianne, Garcia Jimenez, Alberto, Bertrand, Joris A. M., Cortesi, Fabio, Heim, Sara, Huyghe, Filip, Litsios, Glenn, Marcionetti, Anna, O'Donnell, James L., Riginos, Cynthia, Tettamanti, Valerio and Salamin, Nicolas (2024). Gene flow throughout the evolutionary history of a colour polymorphic and generalist clownfish. Molecular Ecology, 33 (14) e17436, e17436. doi: 10.1111/mec.17436
Mitchell, Laurie J., Tettamanti, Valerio, Rhodes, Justin S., Marshall, N. Justin, Cheney, Karen L. and Cortesi, Fabio (2024). Correction: CRISPR/Cas9-mediated generation of biallelic F0 anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris) mutants. PLoS One, 19 (6) e0305644. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305644
Marcionetti, Anna, Bertrand, Joris A. M., Cortesi, Fabio, Donati, Giulia F. A., Heim, Sara, Huyghe, Filip, Kochzius, Marc, Pellissier, Loic and Salamin, Nicolas (2024). Recurrent gene flow events occurred during the diversification of clownfishes of the skunk complex. Molecular Ecology, 33 (11) e17347. doi: 10.1111/mec.17347
Mitchell, Laurie J., Phelan, Amelia, Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, N. Justin, Chung, Wen-sung, Osorio, Daniel C. and Cheney, Karen L. (2024). Ultraviolet vision in anemonefish improves colour discrimination. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227 (7) ARTN jeb247425. doi: 10.1242/jeb.247425
Stieb, Sara M., Cortesi, Fabio, Mitchell, Laurie, Jardim de Queiroz, Luiz, Marshall, N. Justin and Seehausen, Ole (2024). Short‐wavelength‐sensitive 1 (SWS1) opsin gene duplications and parallel visual pigment tuning support ultraviolet communication in damselfishes (Pomacentridae). Ecology and Evolution, 14 (4) e11186, e11186. doi: 10.1002/ece3.11186
Graham, Gabriel J., Ibanez, Emma M., Mitchell, Laurie J., Weis, Karen E., Raetzman, Lori T., Cortesi, Fabio and Rhodes, Justin S. (2024). Generation of the First Transgenic Line of the Iconic Coral Reef Fish Amphiprion ocellaris. Marine Biotechnology, 26 (5), 1067-1078. doi: 10.1007/s10126-024-10357-1
Fogg, Lily G., Chung, Wen-Sung, Justin Marshall, N., Cortesi, Fabio and de Busserolles, Fanny (2023). Multiple rod layers increase the speed and sensitivity of vision in nocturnal reef fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290 (2011) 20231749, 1-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1749
Mouchet, Sébastien R., Cortesi, Fabio, Bokic, Bojana, Lazovic, Vladimir, Vukusic, Pete, Marshall, N. Justin and Kolaric, Branko (2023). Morphological and optical modification of melanosomes in fish integuments upon oxidation. Optics, 4 (4), 563-572. doi: 10.3390/opt4040041
Musilova, Zuzana and Cortesi, Fabio (2023). The evolution of the green-light-sensitive visual opsin genes (RH2) in teleost fishes. Vision Research, 206 108204, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108204
Mitchell, Laurie J., Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, N. Justin and Cheney, Karen L. (2023). Higher ultraviolet skin reflectance signals submissiveness in the anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos. Behavioral Ecology, 34 (1) arac089, 19-32. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arac089
Fogg, Lily G., Cortesi, Fabio, Gache, Camille, Lecchini, David, Marshall, N. Justin and de Busserolles, Fanny (2023). Developing and adult reef fish show rapid light‐induced plasticity in their visual system. Molecular Ecology, 32 (1), 167-181. doi: 10.1111/mec.16744
Stieb, Sara M., Cortesi, Fabio, Jardim de Queiroz, Luiz, Carleton, Karen L., Seehausen, Ole and Marshall, N. Justin (2022). Long-wavelength-sensitive (lws) opsin gene expression, foraging and visual communication in coral reef fishes. Molecular Ecology, 32 (7), 1656-1672. doi: 10.1111/mec.16831
Fogg, Lily G., Cortesi, Fabio, Lecchini, David, Gache, Camille, Marshall, N. Justin and de Busserolles, Fanny (2022). Development of dim-light vision in the nocturnal reef fish family Holocentridae. II: retinal morphology. Journal of Experimental Biology, 225 (17) jeb244740. doi: 10.1242/jeb.244740
Fogg, Lily G., Cortesi, Fabio, Lecchini, David, Gache, Camille, Marshall, N. Justin and de Busserolles, Fanny (2022). Development of dim-light vision in the nocturnal reef fish family Holocentridae I: retinal gene expression. Journal of Experimental Biology, 225 (17) jeb244513. doi: 10.1242/jeb.244513
Cheney, Karen L., Hudson, Jemma, de Busserolles, Fanny, Luehrmann, Martin, Shaughnessy, Abigail, van den Berg, Cedric, Green, Naomi F., Marshall, N. Justin and Cortesi, Fabio (2022). Seeing Picasso: an investigation into the visual system of the triggerfish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 225 (7) jeb243907. doi: 10.1242/jeb.243907
Mitchell, Laurie J., Tettamanti, Valerio, Rhodes, Justin S., Marshall, N. Justin, Cheney, Karen L. and Cortesi, Fabio (2021). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated generation of biallelic F0 anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris) mutants. PLoS One, 16 (12) e0261331, e0261331. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261331
Lupše, Nik, Cortesi, Fabio, Freese, Marko, Marohn, Lasse, Pohlmann, Jan-Dag, Wysujack, Klaus, Hanel, Reinhold and Musilova, Zuzana (2021). Visual gene expression reveals a cone-to-rod developmental progression in deep-sea fishes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38 (12), 5664-5677. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab281
Mitchell, Laurie J, Cheney, Karen L, Lührmann, Martin, Marshall, Justin, Michie, Kyle and Cortesi, Fabio (2021). Molecular evolution of ultraviolet visual opsins and spectral tuning of photoreceptors in anemonefishes (Amphiprioninae). Genome Biology and Evolution, 13 (10) evab184. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evab184
Musilova, Zuzana, Salzburger, Walter and Cortesi, Fabio (2021). The visual opsin gene repertoires of teleost fishes: evolution, ecology, and function. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 37 (1), 441-468. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-120219-024915
Powell, Samuel, Mitchell, Laurie J., Phelan, Amelia M., Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, Justin N. and Cheney, Karen L. (2021). A 5‐channel LED display to investigate UV perception. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12 (4) 2041-210X.13555, 602-607. doi: 10.1111/2041-210x.13555
De Busserolles, Fanny, Cortesi, Fabio, Fogg, Lily, Stieb, Sara M., Luehrmann, Martin and Marshall, N. Justin (2021). The visual ecology of Holocentridae, a nocturnal coral reef fish family with a deep-sea-like multibank retina. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224 (1) jeb233098. doi: 10.1242/jeb.233098
de Busserolles, Fanny, Fogg, Lily, Cortesi, Fabio and Marshall, Justin (2020). The exceptional diversity of visual adaptations in deep-sea teleost fishes. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, 106, 20-30. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2020.05.027
Luehrmann, Martin, Cortesi, Fabio, Cheney, Karen L., Busserolles, Fanny and Marshall, N. Justin (2020). Microhabitat partitioning correlates with opsin gene expression in coral reef cardinalfishes (Apogonidae). Functional Ecology, 34 (5), 1041-1052. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13529
Carleton, Karen L., Escobar-Camacho, Daniel, Stieb, Sara M., Cortesi, Fabio and Marshall, N. Justin (2020). Seeing the rainbow: mechanisms underlying spectral sensitivity in teleost fishes. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 223 (8) jeb193334, jeb193334. doi: 10.1242/jeb.193334
Cortesi, Fabio, Mitchell, Laurie J., Tettamanti, Valerio, Fogg, Lily G., de Busserolles, Fanny, Cheney, Karen L. and Marshall, N. Justin (2020). Visual system diversity in coral reef fishes. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, 106, 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2020.06.007
Tettamanti, Valerio, de Busserolles, Fanny, Lecchini, David, Marshall, N. Justin and Cortesi, Fabio (2019). Visual system development of the spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris (Acanthuridae). The Journal of Experimental Biology, 222 (24) jeb209916, jeb.209916. doi: 10.1242/jeb.209916
Stieb, Sara M., de Busserolles, Fanny, Carleton, Karen L., Cortesi, Fabio, Chung, Wen-Sung, Dalton, Brian E., Hammond, Luke A. and Marshall, N. Justin (2019). A detailed investigation of the visual system and visual ecology of the Barrier Reef anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos. Scientific Reports, 9 (1) 16459, 16459. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52297-0
Luehrmann, Martin, Carleton, Karen L., Cortesi, Fabio, Cheney, Karen L. and Marshall, N. Justin (2019). Cardinalfishes (Apogonidae) show visual system adaptations typical of nocturnally and diurnally active fish. Molecular Ecology, 28 (12), 3025-3041. doi: 10.1111/mec.15102
Musilova, Zuzana, Cortesi, Fabio, Matschiner, Michael, Davies, Wayne I. L., Patel, Jagdish Suresh, Stieb, Sara M., de Busserolles, Fanny, Malmstrøm, Martin, Tørresen, Ole K., Brown, Celeste J., Mountford, Jessica K., Hanel, Reinhold, Stenkamp, Deborah L., Jakobsen, Kjetill S., Carleton, Karen L., Jentoft, Sissel, Marshall, Justin and Salzburger, Walter (2019). Vision using multiple distinct rod opsins in deep-sea fishes. Science, 364 (6440), 588-592. doi: 10.1126/science.aav4632
Marshall, N.J., Cortesi, F., De Busserolles, F., Siebeck, U.E. and Cheney, K.L. (2018). Colours and colour vision in reef fishes: past, present and future research directions. Journal of Fish Biology, 95 (1) jfb.13849, 5-38. doi: 10.1111/jfb.13849
Mitchell, Laurie, Cheney, Karen L., Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, N. Justin and Vorobyev, Misha (2017). Triggerfish uses chromaticity and lightness for object segregation. Royal Society Open Science, 4 (12) 171440, 1-10. doi: 10.1098/rsos.171440
de Busserolles, Fanny, Cortesi, Fabio, Helvik, Jon Vidar, Davies, Wayne I. L., Templin, Rachel M., Sullivan, Robert K. P., Michell, Craig T., Mountford, Jessica K., Collin, Shaun P., Irigoien, Xabier, Kaartvedt, Stein and Marshall, Justin (2017). Pushing the limits of photoreception in twilight conditions: the rod-like cone retina of the deep-sea pearlsides. Science Advances, 3 (11) eaao4709, eaao4709. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aao4709
Bachmann, Judith C., Cortesi, Fabio, Hall, Matthew D., Marshall, N. Justin, Salzburger, Walter and Gante, Hugo F. (2017). Real-time social selection maintains honesty of a dynamic visual signal in cooperative fish. Evolution Letters, 1 (5), 269-278. doi: 10.1002/evl3.24
Cheney, Karen L., Cortesi, Fabio and Nilsson Sköld, Helen (2017). Regulation, constraints and benefits of colour plasticity in a mimicry system. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 122 (2), 385-393. doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blx057
Theis, Anya, Roth, Olivia, Cortesi, Fabio, Ronco, Fabrizia, Salzburger, Walter and Egger, Bernd (2017). Variation of anal fin egg-spots along an environmental gradient in a haplochromine cichlid fish. Evolution, 71 (3), 766-777. doi: 10.1111/evo.13166
Stieb, Sara M., Cortesi, Fabio, Sueess, Lorenz, Carleton, Karen L., Salzburger, Walter and Marshall, N. J. (2017). Why UV vision and red vision are important for damselfish (Pomacentridae): structural and expression variation in opsin genes. Molecular Ecology, 26 (5), 1323-1342. doi: 10.1111/mec.13968
Cortesi, Fabio, Musilova, Zuzana, Stieb, Sara M., Hart, Nathan S., Siebeck, Ulrike E., Cheney, K. L., Salzburger, Walter and Marshall, N. Justin (2016). From crypsis to mimicry: changes in colour and the configuration of the visual system during ontogenetic habitat transitions in a coral reef fish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 219 (16), 2545-2558. doi: 10.1242/jeb.139501
Stieb, Sara M., Carleton, Karen L., Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, N. Justin and Salzburger, Walter (2016). Depth-dependent plasticity in opsin gene expression varies between damselfish (Pomacentridae) species. Molecular Ecology, 25 (15), 3645-3661. doi: 10.1111/mec.13712
Boileau, Nicolas, Cortesi, Fabio, Egger, Bernd, Muschick, Moritz, Indermaur, Adrian, Theis, Anya, Buscher, Heinz H. and Salzburger, Walter (2015). A complex mode of aggressive mimicry in a scale-eating cichlid fish. Biology Letters, 11 (9) 20150521, 1-4. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0521
Cortesi, Fabio, Feeney, William E., Ferrari, Maud C. O., Waldie, Peter A., Phillips, Genevieve A. C., McClure, Eva C., Skold, Helen N., Salzburger, Walter, Marshall, N. Justin and Cheney, Karen L. (2015). Phenotypic Plasticity Confers Multiple Fitness Benefits to a Mimic. Current Biology, 25 (7), 949-954. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.013
Cortesi, Fabio, Musilová, Zuzana, Stieb, Sara M., Hart, Nathan S., Siebeck, Ulrike E., Malmstrøm, Martin, Tørresen, Ole K., Jentoft, Sissel, Cheney, Karen L., Marshall, N. Justin, Carleton, Karen L. and Salzburger, Walter (2015). Ancestral duplications and highly dynamic opsin gene evolution in percomorph fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112 (5), 1493-1498. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1417803112
Cheney, K. L., Cortesi, F., How, M. J., Wilson, N. G., Blomberg, S. P., Winters, A. E., Umanzor, S. and Marshall, N. J. (2014). Conspicuous visual signals do not coevolve with increased body size in marine sea slugs. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27 (4), 676-687. doi: 10.1111/jeb.12348
Cortesi, F. and Cheney, K. L. (2010). Conspicuousness is correlated with toxicity in marine opisthobranchs. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23 (7), 1509-1518. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02018.x
Conference Papers
Bouchat, J., Cortesi, F., Cheney, K., Vukusic, P., Justin Marshall, N., Deparis, O. and Mouchet, S. R. (2023). Quasi-ordered photonic structures colour the bluespotted ribbontail ray. 13th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics, Paris, France, 18-21 July 2023. Paris, France: META Conference.
Bouchat, Julien, Cortesi, Fabio, Cheney, Karen, Vukusic, Peter, Marshall, N. Justin, Deparis, Olivier and Mouchet, Sébastien R. (2022). Bluespotted ribbontail ray colored by quasi-ordered natural photonic structures. SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, San Diego, CA United States, 21-26 August 2022. Bellingham, WA United States: SPIE. doi: 10.1117/12.2646127
Preprints
Data Collections
Cheney, Karen , de Busserolles, Fanny, Luehrmann, Martin , Shaughnessy, Abigail , van den Berg, Cedric, Green, Naomi , Marshall, Justin and Cortesi, Fabio (2022). Data for: Seeing Picasso: an investigation into the visual system of the triggerfish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/bb0f237
Mitchell, Laurie J. , Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, Justin N. and Cheney, Karen L. (2022). Higher ultraviolet skin reflectance signals submissiveness in the anemonefish, Amphiprion akindynos. Dryad. (Dataset) doi: 10.5061/dryad.kwh70rz6t
Cortesi, Fabio, Dunn, Simon, Cheney, Karen, Powell, Samuel, Tettamanti, Valerio, Mitchell, Laurie, Luehrmann, Martin, van den Berg, Cedric, Green, Naomi and Mailer, Chelsea (2021). Gene-editing in anemonefish. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/ddf0baa
Cortesi, Fabio, Dunn, Simon, Cheney, Karen, Powell, Samuel, Tettamanti, Valerio, Mitchell, Laurie, Luehrmann, Martin, van den Berg, Cedric, Green, Naomi and Mailer, Chelsea (2021). GBE anemonefish visual gene supporting data. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/673b710
Powell, Samuel, Mitchell, Laurie J., Phelan, A. M. , Cortesi, Fabio, Marshall, Justin N. and Cheney, Karen L. (2020). A 5-channel LED display to investigate UV perception. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/3e1e21e