Professor Keith Christian did his PhD at Colorado State University on the determinants of space use by Galapagos land iguanas. He expanded his interests in tropical ecology while working at the University of Puerto Rico. He moved to Australia in 1985.

His interests include the physiological and behavioural adaptations of animals—particularly reptiles, amphibians and ants—in response to their physical environment. He has published in the areas of comparative physiology, physiological ecology, exercise physiology, thermoregulatory biology, respiratory physiology, biophysical ecology, and biological control.

Professor Christian has worked to establish methods for using weaver ants as biological control agents in tropical tree crops in northern Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Timor Leste.

Professor Christian has an interest in northern Australia’s rocks and this led to a research project exploring the communities of cyanobacteria that live under translucent rocks, such as quartz, agate, and prehnite in the Wave Hill region of the Northern Territory.