Researcher

My Expertise

Translocation biology

Arid zone ecosystems and species

Introduced predator management

 

Biography

I live and work in the arid zone of Australia, raising my young family at the Wild Deserts field station in Sturt National Park, far-west NSW. My research is strongly applied focusing on the fields of translocation and restoration ecology. I completed my PhD in 2014, examining the use of adaptive management in translocated rock-wallaby populations. I began working for UNSW following my PhD as a Research Assistant on an ARC Linkage Project...view more

I live and work in the arid zone of Australia, raising my young family at the Wild Deserts field station in Sturt National Park, far-west NSW. My research is strongly applied focusing on the fields of translocation and restoration ecology. I completed my PhD in 2014, examining the use of adaptive management in translocated rock-wallaby populations. I began working for UNSW following my PhD as a Research Assistant on an ARC Linkage Project based in remote South Australia. This research project made significant contributions to the field of translocation ecology as it was the first project to demonstrate that exposing native translocated species to low densities of feral predators (in situ predator exposure) could result in improved predator awareness and thus increase the chances of successful translocations to predator environments. In 2016 I joined the new UNSW Sydney Wild Deserts project as their ecologist and worked to build this project from the ground up, living at the very remote project site since 2017. I secured my first academic position with UNSW as the Wild Deserts Principal Ecologist Postdoctoral Fellow in June 2022. The Wild Deserts project is a partnership with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and aims to restore a large area of arid desert. Over the past 9 years the project has flourished with six mammals that were once locally extinct now returned to the desert which is triggering a cascade of ecosystem changes.


My Qualifications

Bachelor of Science (Honours) - University of Bristol 2008

Post Graduate Certificate in Secondary Education - University of Western England 2009

PhD Reintroduction Biology - University of Adelaide 2014


My Research Supervision


Areas of supervision

Ecosystem restoration, translocation biology, behavioural ecology (especially prey naivete and predator training), arid zone ecosystem and function, multi species interactions, predator control and management, adaptive management


Currently supervising

Oli Aylen (PhD) - benefits of fenced reserves to bats

Kelsey Donally (MPhil) - impacts of heatwaves on bandicoot species

Louise Personeni (Honours) - spatiotemporal occupancy of feral cats and native species

Cate Kyling (Honours) - bilby behavioural and physical change in response to predator exposure

Olivia Boulous (Honours) - infleunce of competitive and predatory interactions on reintroduction success

Penny Rummery (Honours) - the response of arid zone vegetation to patchy hazard reduction burns


My Teaching

BEES3223 Restoration and Translocation Ecology

View less

Location

Wild Deserts Field Station, Sturt National Park, NSW