Andrew Weeks completed his undergraduate studies at La Trobe University where he obtained a BSc(Honours) in 1995. He then obtained his PhD. in Evolutionary Genetics at La Trobe University under the guidance of Prof. Ary Hoffmann in 1998. Since completing his PhD., Andrew has held several postdoctoral positions including 2 years at the University of Amsterdam (with Dr. Hans Breeuwer), a year at Monash University (with Dr. Steve McKechnie) and a year at the University of California, Riverside (with Dr. Richard Stouthamer). Andrew is now at the University of Melbourne on an Australian Research Council Fellowship based within CESAR.

My research interests centre around understanding the evolutionary significance and fate of asexual organisms. I have mostly used asexual mite species to address these questions as asexuality is overrepresented in this group compared to all other animals. This has led to an interest in endosymbiotic bacteria that manipulate their hosts reproduction to enhance their own spread (such as Wolbachia induced parthenogenesis; Cardinium induced feminization etc). Other interests include: clinal adaptation in Drosophila; inversions in Drosophila and their evolutionary significance; mutation accumulation and how mutations interact.

I also play a role in the Applied program at CESAR. We are currently incorporating molecular genetics, biomonitoring and pest entomology into an integrated program for pest control and sustainable management options for Australian agricultural environments.

Current Research:  

 A novel approach to control an insect pest: using Wolbachia to suppress populations os sheep blowfly (Funded by Wool Innovation)

The biology, ecology and population genetics of emerging pests of grains, Balustuim and Bryobia mites, in southern Australia.(Funded by the GRDC)

Population genetics of the lucerne flea, Sminthurus viridis, with application for biocontrol. (Funded by the GRDC)

The genetic structure of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti in Australia, Vietnam and Thailand. 

Emerging mite pests in southern Australia - wheat curl mite (Funded by GRDC) 

Publications

Arthurs, A. L., Hoffmann, A. A., Umina, P. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Emerging pest mites of grains (Balaustium medicagoense and Bryobia spp.) show high levels of tolerance to currently registered pesticides. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture in press

Mitrovski, P., Hoffmann, A. A., Heinze, D. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Rapid loss of genetic variation in an endangered possum. Biology Letters in press

Gower, J., Hoffmann, A. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Effectiveness of spring spraying targeting diapause egg production for controlling redlegged earth mites and other pests in pasture.  Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture in press

Hoffmann, A. A., Ratna, E., Sgrò, C. M., Barton, M., Blacket, M., Hallas, R. De Garis, S. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Antagonistic selection between adult thorax and wing size in field released Drosophila melanogaster independent of thermal conditions. Journal of Evolutionary Biology in press

Weeks, A. R., McKechnie, S. W., and Hoffmann, A. A. 2007.  Robust clines and robust sampling: a reply to Kyriacou et al. Journal of Evolutionary Biology in press

Endersby, N., Hoffmann, A. A., McKechnie, S. W., and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Is there genetic structure in populations of Helicoverpa armigera from Australia? Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 122: 253-263.

Valenzuela, I., Hoffmann, A. A., Malipatil, M. B., Ridland, P. M. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Identification of aphid species (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Aphidinae) using a rapid PCR-RFLP method based on the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Australian Journal of Entomology in press

Weeks, A. R., Turelli, M., Harcombe, W. R., Reynolds, K. T. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2007. From parasite to mutualist: rapid evolution of Wolbachia in populations of Drosophila. PLOS Biology 5(5): 997-1005

Beaulieu, F. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Free-living mesostigmatic mites in Australia: their role in biological control and bioindication.  Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47: 460-478.

Hoffmann, A. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. Climatic selection on genes and traits after a 100 year-old invasion: a critical look at the temperate-tropical clines in Drosophila melanogaster from eastern Australia. Genetica 129: 133-147 

Mitrovski, P., Heinze, D. A., Broome L., Hoffmann, A. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2007. High levels of variation despite genetic fragmentation in populations of the endangered mountain pygmy possum, Burramys parvus, in alpine Australia. Molecular Ecology 16: 75-87.

Tsitsilas, A., Stuckey, S., Hoffmann, A.A., Weeks, A.R. and Thomson L.J. 2006. Shelterbelt understorey characteristics have a direct impact on beneficial organisms and pests in adjacent pasture. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46: 1379-1388.

Umina, P.A., Hoffmann, A. A., Weeks, A. R., and McKechnie, S. W. 2006.  An independent non-linear latitudinal cline for the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate (a-Gpdh) polymorphism of Drosophila melanogaster from eastern Australia. Genetical Research 87: 13-21

Weeks, A. R., McKechnie, S. W. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2006. In search of clinal variation in the period and clock timing genes in Australian Drosophila melanogaster populations.  Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 551-557.

Endersby, N. M., McKechnie, S. W., Ridland, P. M. and Weeks, A. R. 2006. Microsatellites reveal a lack of structure in Australian populations of the diamond back moth, Plutella xylostella (L.). Molecular Ecology 15: 107-118.

Rugman-Jones, P.F., Weeks, A.R., Hoddle, M.S. and Stouthamer, R. 2005. Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the avocado thrips Scirtothrips perseae (Thysanoptera: Thripidae).  Molecular Ecology Notes 5: 644-646.

Provencher, L. M., Morse, G. M., Weeks, A. R. and Normark, B. B. 2005 Parthenogenesis in the Aspidiotus nerii complex (Hemiptera: Diaspididae): a single origin of a worldwide, polyphagous lineage associated with Cardinium bacteria. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98: 629-635.

Umina, P. A., Weeks, A. R., Kearney, M., McKechnie, S. W. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2005. A rapid shift in a classic clinal pattern in Drosophila reflecting climate change. Science 308: 691-693.

Mitrovski, P., Heinze, D. A., Guthridge, K and Weeks, A. R. 2005. Isolation and characterisation of microsatellite loci from the Australian endemic Mountain pygmy-possum, Burramys parvus Broom. Molecular Ecology Notes 5: 395-397.

Anderson, A. R., Hoffmann, A. A., McKechnie, S. W., Umina, P. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2005. The latitudinal cline in the In(3R)Payne inversion polymorphism has shifted in the last 20 years in Australian Drosophila melanogaster populations. Molecular Ecology 14: 851-858.

Endersby, N. M., McKechnie, S. W., Vogel, H., Gahan, L. J., Baxter, S. W., Ridland, P. M. and Weeks, A. R. 2005. Microsatellites isolated from diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), for studies of dispersal in Australian populations.  Molecular Ecology Notes 5: 51-53.

Umina, P. A., Hoffmann, A. A. and Weeks, A. R. 2004.  The biology, ecology and control of the Penthaleus species complex (Acari: Penthaleidae).  Experimental and Applied Acarology 34: 211-237.

Hoffmann, A. A., Sgro, C. M. and Weeks, A. R. 2004. Chromosomal inversion polymorphisms and adaptation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 482-488.

Weeks, A. R. and Stouthamer, R. 2004. Increased fecundity associated with infection by a Cytophaga-like intracellular bacterium in the predatory mite, Metaseiulus occidentalis.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Series B. Biological Sciences (Suppl.) 271: S193-S195

Weeks, A. R., Velten, R. and Stouthamer, R. 2003.  Incidence of a new sex-ratio-distorting endosymbiotic bacterium among arthropods. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Series B. Biological Sciences 270: 1857-1865.

Weeks, A. R. and Breeuwer, J. A. J.  2003.  A new bacterium from the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides phylum that causes sex ratio distortion. In Insect Symbiosis. (ed. K. Bourtzis and T. Miller).  CRC Press Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

Weeks, A. R., McKechnie, S. W. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2002.  Dissecting adaptive clinal variation: markers, inversions and size/stress associations in Drosophila melanogaster from a central field population. Ecology Letters 5: 756-763.

Vala, F., Weeks, A. R., Breeuwer, J. A. J. and Sabelis, M. W. 2002. Within- and between-population variation for Wolbachia-induced reproductive incompatibility in a haplodiploid mite. Evolution 56: 1331-1339.

Robinson, M. T., Weeks, A. R. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2002. Geographic patterns of clonal diversity in the earth mite species, Penthaleus major, with particular emphasis on species margins. Evolution 56: 1160-1167.

Weeks, A. R., Reynolds, K. T. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2002. Wolbachia dynamics and host effects: was has (and has not) been demonstrated? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17: 257-262.

Weeks, A. R. and Breeuwer, J. A. J. 2001. Wolbachia induced parthenogenesis in a genus of phytophagous mites. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London – Series B. Biological Sciences 268: 2245-2251

Weeks A. R., Marec, F. and Breeuwer, J. A. J. 2001.  A mite species that consists entirely of haploid females. Science 292: 2479-2482.

Weeks, A. R., van Opijnen, T., and Breeuwer, J. A. J. 2000.  AFLPs and mites: applications for assessing intraspecific variation and genome mapping. Experimental and Applied Acarology 24: 775-793.

Weeks, A. R., Turelli, M. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2000. Dispersal patterns of pest earth mites in pastures and crops.  Journal of Economic Entomology 93: 1415-1423.

Weeks, A. R. and Hoffmann, A. A. 2000.  Competitive interactions between two pest species of earth mites, Halotydeus destructor and Penthaleus major (Acarina: Penthaleidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 93: 1183-1191.

Weeks, A. R. and Hoffmann, A. A. 1999.  The biology of Penthaleus species in south eastern Australia.  Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 92: 179-189.

Weeks, A. R. and Hoffmann, A. A. 1998.  Intense selection of mite clones in a heterogeneous environment.  Evolution 52: 1325-1333.

Weeks, A. R., Fripp, Y. J. and Hoffmann, A. A. 1995. Genetic structure of Halotydeus destructor and Penthaleus major populations in Victoria (Acari: Penthaleidae). Experimental and Applied Acarology 19: 633-646.