Some of the broad aims of my projects
Please feel free to contact me if you are particularly interested in any of these projects.
Green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea)
Population ecology and management of the bell frog
The green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) is an endangered and declining species in eastern Australia. Highly affected by amphibian chytrid fungus and industrial development, the remaining populations are highly fragmented and their population persistence is completely unknown. I have studied the population ecology in Sydney with the intention of informing management authorities to improve their probability of persistence. Much of this work (from my PhD) has been published, so please see my publications.
Black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor)
Population ecology of East Asian birds
My postdoctoral project at the University of Hong Kong focused on the population responses of east Asian birds to temperature variability and the subsequent effects of climate change. I have also been working on a spatial population viability analysis of the endangered black-faced spoonbill due to climate change and unprecedented habitat degradation in eastern Asia. This project has involved collaboration with a wide range of researchers and institutions who work in China, Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea and South Korea.
Sycorax sp. biting a lesser spiny frog (Quasipaa exilispinosa) in Hong Kong.
Frog-biting flies
Frog-biting flies, as the name suggests, are a blood-sucking parasite of frogs. What's super interesting about these flies is that they are attracted to the call of male frogs. Their ecology is practically unknown and they could be an important vector of disease. I have discovered them to occur at very high densities in Hong Kong streams (which to my knowledge is the first record in China). This is currently a small side-project, but I am very interested in studying these guys further as they are open to a huge range of possible projects.