ABOUT ME
Following a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Botany in 2004, I undertook Honours research in the comparative physiology of small Australian mammals. My research investigated ecological energetic patterns in Honey Possums (Tarsipes rostratus), and thermoregulatory patterns and heterothermy in Australian rodents (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis and Mus musculus). In 2012 I was awarded my PhD from UWA on the ecophysiological and behavioural adaptations of carnivorous marsupials (Sminthopsis spp) to energetic challenges, and how this was correlated with distributional size and specialisation to hyper-arid environments.
image: Don Bradshaw
Since then I have held research positions at several tertiary research organisations across Australia.
At the University of Western Australia I had a postdoctoral role investigating the limiting effects of insect thermal tolerance and energetics in returning pollination services to restoration sites in fragmented landscapes. There are substantial differences in the thermal tolerance limits of many different species, even when they originate from the same community, and this has substantial implications for their capacity to respond to changed micro-climates that result from changed land use and vegetation.
At Curtin University I worked as part of the ARC Centre for Minesite Restoration, researching the bases for returning rare species to post-mining restoration landscapes, or to translocating them to establish new, insurance populations elsewhere. While my students researched species ranging from insects to reptiles to rare flora, my role was largely focused on developed high-resolution spatial models to identify where different species would be most likely to successfully be re-established in conservation and restoration efforts. I developed ways to do this for both plants and animals that incorporated the physiological constraints of the organisms.
At the University of Adelaide I have expanded my interest in spatial and temporal modelling, working as a postdoc to build high-resolution simulations of extinction and endangerment pathways in a range of animal species. My major project has been to reconstruct likely patterns of Polynesian settlement across New Zealand, and to develop spatially-explicit models of how this expansion most plausibly resulted in the extinction of six species of moa in space and time. Other research projects have taken these approaches and applied them to questions of range collapse and declines of species such as Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) to guide conservation responses.
image: Peter Schouten
Throughout my career I have worked in partnership with proponents from commercial and non-profit agencies. I have worked for two years consulting to mining and development, and have also held casual appointment with the Western Australian the Department of Environment and Conservation. Most of my partnerships have resulted in successful research projects, including two competitive funding bids with Kings Park Science, researching seed metabolic ecology and hydrothermal germination constraints. This research has begun to reveal links between metabolic rates and seed dormancy, longevity and storage behaviour, priming and patterns of rarity.