Undertaking a PhD on the ecology of the threatened large-eared pied bat (Chalinolobus dwyeri) and eastern cave bat (Vespadelus troughtoni). I’m studying at Macquarie University in northern Sydney and my supervisory team includes Caragh Threlfall, Brad Law, Chad Beranek & Rachael Dudaniec. The research questions associated with each of my thesis chapters are below:Chapter 1 - What are the habitat preferences of the large-eared pied bat and does it respond to human modified landscapes? Grids of 28 bat call recorders will be deployed over roost sites and urban/farmland into forest gradients to create a heat map calling activity.Chapter 2 - What factors influence large-eared pied bat roost selection and do their roosts differ to eastern cave bat roosts? Cave exploration and radio-tracking will be conducted to describe roosting locations.Chapter 3 - What is the diet of the large-eared pied bat and how does it differ from the eastern cave bat's diet? In other words, is there dietary niche partitioning between the two species?Faecal matter will be collected from bats to extract prey DNA and determine diet.Chapter 4 - Are there distinct large-eared pied bat and eastern cave bat populations and what are the implications for their conservation? If there are isolated populations, what are the causes of fragmentation? Do the NSW and QLD large-eared pied bat populations warrant being different sub-species/species?Wing-tissue samples will be collected and a landscape genetics approach will be used to determine whether there is gene flow between different regions.Feel free to get in touch if you're interested in helping me out in the field. I can almost guarantee you'll get to see many different microbat species!

Operating under my own ABN as a freelance fauna ecologist. I hold myself to a rigorous personal standard and have conducted fauna surveys in NSW, QLD, NT & SA, with NSW being my home state. My key services include but are not limited to:- Microbat call identification and analysis.- Microbat harp trapping and breeding status evaluation.- Microbat radio-tracking and cave exploration, particularly to find maternity roosts.- Bird surveys including call identification.- Threatened owl nest identification and monitoring.

Was employed full-time by the TBE environmental consultancy. In this position I…• Conduct a variety of surveys for threatened fauna and their habitat (Incl. birds, bats, mammals, frogs, reptiles, and invertebrates).• Write a variety of reports such as Biodiversity Assessment Reports (BDAR/BCAR/BSSAR), biodiversity constraints reports, compliance letters, Koala Assessment Reports, and Vegetation Management Plans (VMP) reports for clients.• Identify fauna to species level through their physical features, behaviour, and call.• Analyse bioacoustic recordings to determine presence/absence of species (Incl. birds, bats, mammals, and frogs).• Identify significant habitat trees such as hollow-bearing trees including identifying the tree to species level.• Oversee the installation of nestboxes (Incl. bat-boxes, glider-boxes, owl-hollows, lorikeet-boxes etc.).

Completed a six month, full time internship with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). During this role, I travelled between the Newhaven (NT), Yookamurra (SA), Western River Refuge (Kangaroo Island), and Buckaringa wildlife (SA) sanctuaries to assist with a variety of fauna conservation work.• Assisted in the translocation, radiotracking, and health checks of brush-tailed bettongs into Newhaven (NT).• Conducted mark-recapture surveys to estimate population size of mala (rufous-hair wallaby).• Deployed Elliot traps to survey for brush-tailed mulgara.• Conducted systematic bird, numbat, and mallefowl surveys.• Conducted two independent pitfall surveys (including cage traps, Elliot traps, and funnel traps); one on Kangaroo Island and the other at Yookamurra.• Wrote a standard operating procedure (SOP) for how to passively survey for microbats.• Conducted observational counts of yellow-footed rock wallabies in the Flinders Ranges.

Completed my Honours research project in the field of Ecology. I provided a density and home range estimate for the Short-eared Possum (Trichosurus caninus) in Mt Hyland Nature Reserve and Gibraltar Range National Park. I also looked at how the density of short-eared possums differs in different habitat types. In this role I...• Designed an appropriate experiment to test the hypothesis.• Spent 10-days camping in the field every month for six months to live-trap with Thomas and cage traps, process (take measurements) and microchip the target species.• Deployed surveillance cameras and analysed the photos, handled a variety of marsupial species and attached GPS collars to captured threatened wallabies.• Posted call-outs on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn to recruit volunteers to assist me in the field.• Led surveys, trained volunteers and comfortably socialised with volunteers (many of which I have never met before).• Drove a 4WD through rough terrain each day of fieldwork.• Liased with government and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to gain permission to conduct research on their land.• Conducted bird surveys each day of fieldwork for the BirdData citizen science project.• Statistically analysed the collected data with a spatially explicit capture-recapture model (SECR).• Wrote a First Class university thesis and a scientific journal publication.

Completed an internship at the Australian National Herbarium. My daily activities followed those of a botanist who works in a herbarium. • Identified flora to species level using a variety of keys.• Found, collected and recorded flora in the field.• Distinguished between the different cryptogams.• Mounted, sorted and put away specimens.• Advanced use of physical and digital maps, as well as GPS.• Effectively worked in groups of up to six people in the field and in the lab.

Conducted a research project in Barrington Tops National Park to describe the microhabitat and calling phenology of the Davies' tree frog (Litoria daviesae).• Led vegetation surveys and ID plants to species level.• Conducted auditory and visual encounter surveys for L. daviesae.• Installed Acoustic data loggers (Song Meter 4) and processed data with the SoundID software.• Led teams of up to four people, as well as worked autonomously.• Travelled long distances to work in a remote location for several days each week.• Drove a 4WD through rough terrain.• Created site maps and analysed data with ArcMap.

Employed by the University of Newcastle to assist in the green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) restoration project.• Conducted visual encounter and capture-mark-recapture surveys for amphibians.• Captured, microchiped, collected genetics and recorded physiological measurements of L. aurea.• Identified flora and fauna to species level.• Led teams of four to eight people on a regular basis, as well as worked autonomously.• Worked long nights in the field with undetermined finish times.• Installed Fyke nets and reptile sheet metal.• Recorded data in an organised fashion and diligently enter it into Microsoft Excel.• Advanced use of head torch, kestrel, water meter and GPS.

Completed a placement with Barrington Tops National Parks to assess and map the impact feral horses are having on the local riparian zones.• Conducted horse impact surveys to collect data for spatial analysis within ArcMap.• Identified flora, fauna and habitats.• Travelled long distances to work in a remote location for several days each week.• Lead teams of up to four people, as well as work autonomously.• Drove a 4WD through rough terrain.• Created high-quality maps that the National Parks will be referring to when creatingferal horse management plans.