Raoul Mulder

Mulder completed his Bachelor of Science at Australian National University, majoring in biochemistry, but a field trip to Kakadu National Park turned his attention to biology instead.[2] He completed his Honours and PhD at the Australian National University under ornithologist Andrew Cockburn, submitting his thesis in 1992.[1]

Mulder subsequently spent time in Madagascar studying male plumage dichromatism in the Madagascar paradise flycatcher.[3][4] He spent one year as a technical advisor to the World Wide Fund for Nature in southern Madagascar, then served as a World Learning academic director in both Botswana and Madagascar.[2] He returned to Australian National University from 1996-1998 as an ARC postdoctoral fellow.[2]

Mulder joined the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne in 1999 as a lecturer.[2] Much of his research since has focused on the evolutionary and behavioural ecology of black swans and superb fairy-wrens.[5] His lab maintains wild study populations of black swans at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne, and superb fairy-wrens at Serendip Sanctuary near Lara, Victoria.[5][6][7] In 2015, Mulder served as head of the newly formed School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne.[8]

Using DNA fingerprinting, Mulder's PhD research revealed widespread extra-pair paternity in the superb fairy-wren: up to 76% of offspring were sired by males outside their social group. This is among the highest cuckoldry rates of any bird.[1][9] In black swans, his research found that one in six offspring are the result of breeding outside the social pair.[10][11][12]

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  Black swans at Albert Park Lake wearing identifying neck collars as part of Mulder lab research
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  A student measures a superb fairy-wren at Serendip Sanctuary as part of Mulder lab research