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Dr Matthew W. Rees
Ecologist, CSIRO
matt.rees@csiro.au

I am a research scientist aiming to help conserve nature and promote effective management of pest species. My work tends to focus on species introduced beyond their natural range: estimating their distribution, density and ecosystem impacts. Invasive species management can have unintended consequences which need to be weighed up against potential benefits on a case-by-case basis. For example, in my PhD I investigated a potential behavioural and numerical ‘release’ of feral cats following poison-baiting programs targeting introduced red foxes, which may explain why some native prey species do not benefit from fox control. I am particularly interested in how top predators shape ecosystems, as well as the ability of our monitoring and modelling practices to uncover these processes.

These days I am spending less time in the field and more time finessing over statistical models. I completed my PhD with the Quantitative and Applied Ecology group at the University of Melbourne. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the CSIRO Adaptive Biosecurity Management team, based in Brisbane. Here I mostly stitch together different data types to (i) forecast house mouse plagues in grain growing regions, and (ii) predict current distributions of invasive species across Australia, such as feral pigs.

Interests

  • Conservation and agricultural decision-making
  • Invasive species and predator ecology
  • Population dynamics and species interactions
  • Integrating various types and sources of data

Academia

University of Melbourne
2017 - 2022
Ph.D. Quantitative Ecology
Queensland University of Technology
2013 - 2016
B.Sc. (Hons) Environmental Science

Publications

Mesopredator release among invasive predators: Controlling red foxes can increase feral cat density and alter their behaviour, 2023, Journal of Applied Ecology
MW Rees , JH Pascoe , M Le Pla , A Robley , EK Birnbaum , BA Wintle , BA Hradsky
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Managing Interacting Invasive Predators for Biodiversity Conservation, 2022, PhD thesis, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences; University of Melbourne
MW Rees
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Genetic sampling and an activity index indicate contrasting outcomes of lethal control for an invasive predator, 2022, Austral Ecology
M Le Pla , EK Birnbaum , MW Rees , BA Hradsky , AR Weeks , A Van Rooyen , JH Pascoe
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Counting the bodies: Estimating the numbers and spatial variation of Australian reptiles, birds and mammals killed by two invasive mesopredators, 2022, Diversity and Distributions
A Stobo-Wilson , BP Murphy , SM Legge , H Caceres‐Escobar , DG Chapple , HM Crawford , SJ Dawson , CR Dickman , TS Doherty , PA Fleming , ST Garnett , M Gentle , TM Newsome , R Palmer , MW Rees , EG Ritchie , J Speed , J Stuart , AF Suarez‐Castro , E Thompson , A Tulloch , J Turpin , JCZ Woinarski
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Compounding and complementary carnivores: Australian bird species eaten by the introduced European red fox Vulpes vulpes and domestic cat Felis catus, 2021, Bird Conservation International
JCZ Woinarski , A Stobo-Wilson , HM Crawford , SJ Dawson , CR Dickman , TS Doherty , PA Fleming , ST Garnett , M Gentle , SM Legge , TM Newsome , R Palmer , MW Rees , EG Ritchie , J Speed , J Stuart , E Thompson , J Turpin , BP Murphy
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A guide to surveying red foxes and feral cats in Australia, 2021, NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub Project 1.1.5 report, Brisbane.
BA Hradsky , HW McGregor , MW Rees , M Le Pla , J Keem , BA Wintle , S Legge
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Sharing meals: predation of Australian mammals by the introduced European red fox compounds and complements predation by cats, 2021, Biological Conservation
A Stobo-Wilson , BP Murphy , HM Crawford , SJ Dawson , CR Dickman , TS Doherty , PA Fleming , M Gentle , SM Legge , TM Newsome , R Palmer , MW Rees , EG Ritchie , J Speed , J Stuart , E Thompson , J Turpin , JCZ Woinarski
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Reptiles as food: predation of Australian reptiles by introduced red foxes compounds and complements predation by cats, 2021, Wildlife Research
A Stobo-Wilson , BP Murphy , SM Legge , DG Chapple , HM Crawford , SJ Dawson , CR Dickman , TS Doherty , PA Fleming , M Gentle , TM Newsome , R Palmer , MW Rees , EG Ritchie , J Speed , J Stuart , E Thompson , J Turpin , JCZ Woinarski
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Variation in feral cat density between two large adjacent islands in Australia’s monsoon tropics, 2021, Pacific Conservation Biology
H Davies , Tiwi Land Rangers , MW Rees , D Stokeld , A Miller , G Gillespie , B Murphy
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Rapidly assessing cobenefits to advance threat‐management alliances, 2020, Conservation Biology
MW Rees , J Carwardine , A Reeson , J Firn
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Monitoring and managing critical weight range mammals in the Indigenous Protected Areas of the World Heritage Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, 2020, A report prepared for the Victorian Government, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
MW Rees
Unexpectedly high densities of feral cats in a rugged temperate forest, 2019, Biological Conservation
MW Rees , JH Pascoe , BA Wintle , M Le Pla , EK Birnbaum , BA Hradsky
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