Optimising headstarting for freshwater turtles 
of the Murray-Darling Basin

In Australia, freshwater turtles play key ecological roles as primary scavengers, particularly during fish-kill events.  However, freshwater turtles are declining, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, where >95% of turtle nests are destroyed by invasive foxes. Traditional methods of fox control have not prevented turtle declines. Instead, headstarting promises to be a more effective strategy because it removes nests from foxes, eliminating this source of mortality. 
​The objective of this research is to maximise hatchling recruitment through understanding the influences of incubation, microbiomes and environmental estrogens on turtles. These findings will contribute towards a headstarting project to conserve the populations of freshwater turtles of the Murray-Darling Basin. My supervisors for this project are Dr James Van Dyke, Dr Kylie Roberts and Associate Professor Ricky Spencer.  

Ecology of the Sulawesi Forest Turtle

The project aimed to reveal the spatial ecology of wild Sulawesi forest turtles (Leucocephalon yuwonoi). We determined the home-ranges of L. yuwonoi, examined macro- and microhabitat preferences, and compared differences in both sexually mature males and females. We determined home-range size for each turtle and found no differences between males and females, turtles showed strong site fidelity and found turtles selected refuge sites that had high levels of habitat structure. These findings will contribute towards a conservation initiative for the species. This project was conducted through The Lizard Lab at Macquarie University, supervised by Dr Simon Clulow, Associate Professor Martin Whiting and Dr Sean Doody. Furthermore, this project was in collaboration with Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and local counterpart universities: Tadulako university, Bogor Agricultural university and Indonesian Institute of Sciences

The effects of landscape context on post-fire
​colonisation by reptiles in the Mallee 

The study examined how the surrounding landscape influences faunal recovery from large wildfire. We conducted the project in the Mallee region of far north-western Victoria, comparing reptile species compositions in burnt and unburnt Mallee vegetation within fragmented and continuous habitat. We found that reptile communities were more influenced by habitat quality in both fragmented and continuous habitat. 
This project was conducted through the Fire Ecology Lab at La Trobe University with my supervisors, Dr Simon Watson and Dr Steve Leonard.

Motion masquerade in Chameleons: the jaggered walking behaviour of Veiled Chameleons (Chamaelo calyptratus)​

This study analysed the cryptic walking behaviour of chameleons. We designed and built a ‘walking arena’ where we was able to film the chameleon walk, and their behavioural response to different stimuli. From this study, we were able to develop a method of analysing the different walking behaviours on the program MatLab. This project was conducted through the Animal Behaviour Lab with supervision from Dr Richard Peters.