-WILDLIFE BIOLOGY LAB @UWS-
CURRENT PROJECTS
Below is a list of current projects. For further enquiries about, please contact the project principle investigator associated with each project.
Extinction of turtles in the River Murray: Consequences and Solutions
2014-2017 ARC Linkage. Principle Investigator: Ricky Spencer
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Turtles are a major ecological component of the Murray-Darling, Australia’s major river system. They are declining alarmingly with potential dire consequences for water quality, biodiversity, and river health. This project unites a world-class research team with diverse industry partners, indigenous groups, and NGOs from three states to address a problem of national significance. We will identify and quantify causes of declines in turtles along the whole system, with the aim of developing practical management options to overcome it. This will be the first river-wide study of turtles, achieved by combining cutting-edge genetic and ecological techniques with a citizen science program.
Profiling an Environmental Terrorist: Population Ecology, Genetics and Management of Feral Cats.
2013-2016 Principle Investigator: Jessica Dormer
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Feral cats are a significant ecological concern for the health and future of Australian ecosystems. However, we need to `profile' the true feral cat to understand how to best manage them and their impacts. We will investigate the population ecology, population genetics and 'breed profile' feral cats in a range of habitats to determine the biological parameters that facilitate movement of domestic and stray cats into wild populations, where they have been a major contributor to the extinction or decline of many of Australia's small-medium sized mammals over the last 200 years.
The project is timely because NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services is drawing up a threat abatement plan to assist in reducing the impact of feral cats on threatened species. This project will be extremely important for understanding and managing the impacts of feral cat predation on threatened species and trialling new methods of control that are humane, effective and efficient.
Physiological Mechanisms of Synchronous Hatching in Turtles
2012-2015 Principle Investigator: Jessica McGlashan
Turtles hatch synchronously despite thermal gradients between the top and bottom of a nest making it an apparent improbability. This project explores the remarkable physiological mechanisms that turtles use to communicate and respond to other sibs in the nest.
Metabolic processes such as development, maintenance, oxygen consumption and thermogenesis are affected by both temperature and thyroid hormones in many vertebrates. Temperature is also the major determinant of incubation length in reptiles, but both turtles and lizards have the ability to increase development independent of temperature, particularly late in development. In natural nests, temperature gradients can alter developmental rates of turtle embryos, but metabolic compensation enables neonates to hatch synchronously with no cost to performance. The physiological mechanisms that enables metabolic compensation to occur is unknown but thyroid hormones affect a host of metabolic processes and may be crucial for synchronising hatching. This project experimentally explores the role of the thyroid and associated hormones during development, as well as their role in faciliting synchronous hatching in turtles.
How bush rats respond to translocation
2012-2015 Principle Investigator: Megan Callander
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This project is in collaboration with the Sydney Bush Rat project that examining whether restoration of ecological assemblages can prevent reinvasion of pests after control. It aims to examine whether reintroduction of a once common species of native rodent (bush rats) can prevent reinvasions of feral black rats into the same area after control. The main aspect of this arm of the project is to investigate the behavioural and ecological response of bush rats after translocation and how initial responses translate into long-term survival and habitation in the new area.