I am a scientist aiming to help conserve nature and promote effective management of ‘problem’ species. My research tends to focus on species introduced beyond their natural range: estimating their distribution, density, interactions with other species and impact on ecosystem function. 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 recently completed my PhD and several small research contracts with the Quantitative and Applied Ecology group at the University of Melbourne. Now I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the CSIRO Adaptive Biosecurity Management team in the Pest Management Systems group, 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 gamba grass and feral pigs).
Please drop me a line if you would like a free copy of a publication or have any questions about my research.
Interests
- Conservation and agricultural decision-making
- Invasive species and predator ecology
- Population dynamics and species interactions
- Integrating various types and sources of data