Fields of Research

Conservation and biodiversity
Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)
Pollution and contamination
Biological oceanography
Environmental assessment and monitoring
Wildlife and habitat management
Epigenetics (incl. genome methylation and epigenomics)
Animal behaviour
Biogeography and phylogeography
Disease surveillance
Fisheries management
Population ecology
Animal physiological ecology
Animal diet and nutrition
Veterinary epidemiology
Manufacturing management
Ecological physiology
Invertebrate biology
Vertebrate biology
Microbial ecology
Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation

Research Objectives

Marine biodiversity
Rehabilitation or conservation of marine environments
Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences
Environmental policy, legislation and standards
Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems
Marine systems and management
Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems
Protection and conservation of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments
Measurement and assessment of marine water quality and condition
Assessment and management of pelagic marine ecosystems
Coastal and estuarine systems and management
Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in coastal and estuarine environments
Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Management of solid waste from commercial services and tourism
Terrestrial biodiversity
Coastal or estuarine biodiversity
Wild caught edible molluscs
Rehabilitation or conservation of coastal or estuarine environments
Conserving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture

Career Best Publications

A quantitative analysis linking seabird mortality and marine debris ingestion; Scientific Reports
Disentangling the influence of taxa, behaviour and debris ingestion on seabird mortality; Environmental Research Letters
Plastic ingestion is an underestimated cause of death for southern hemisphere albatrosses; Conservation Letters
Plastic pollution is killing marine megafauna, but how do we prioritize policies to reduce mortality?; Conservation Letters
Socioeconomics effects on global hotspots of common debris items on land and the seafloor; Global Environmental Change. Part A

Research Publications

A global assessment of the relationship between anthropogenic debris on land and the seafloor; Environmental Pollution
A quantitative analysis linking seabird mortality and marine debris ingestion; Scientific Reports
Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear ‘ghost nets’ are increasing through time in Northern Australia; Marine Pollution Bulletin
Anthropogenic debris ingestion by avifauna in Eastern Australia; PLoS One
Balloons found to be deadliest marine plastic for seabirds
Balloons killing seabirds
Comparing marine anthropogenic debris on inhabited mainland beaches, coastal islands, and uninhabited offshore islands: a case study from Queensland and the Coral Sea, Australia; Marine Pollution Bulletin
Deadliest plastics: bags and packaging biggest marine life killers, study finds, by Graham Readfearn
Desperate times call for desperate measures: non-food ingestion by starving seabirds; Marine Ecology Progress Series
Disentangling the influence of taxa, behaviour and debris ingestion on seabird mortality; Environmental Research Letters
Ecological drivers of marine debris ingestion in Procellariiform seabirds; Scientific Reports
Ghost nets in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia, 2004-2020: Quantifying abandoned, lost and derelict fishing gear (ALDFG) across northern Australia
Impact of plastics on seabirds being studied with your help on social media
Is plastic ingestion in birds as toxic as we think? Insights from a plastic feeding experiment; Science of The Total Environment
Plastic additives and legacy persistent organic pollutants in the preen gland oil of seabirds sampled across the globe; Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Plastic bags and food packages killing Australia's marine animals
Plastic in the ocean kills more threatened albatrosses than we thought
Plastic ingestion is an underestimated cause of death for southern hemisphere albatrosses; Conservation Letters
Plastic pollution is killing marine megafauna, but how do we prioritize policies to reduce mortality?; Conservation Letters
Plastic, nutrition and pollution; relationships between ingested plastic and metal concentrations in the livers of two Pachyptila seabirds; Scientific Reports
Seabirds were so famished they ate pumice stones before mass 'wreck'
Size of marine debris items ingested and retained by petrels; Marine Pollution Bulletin
Socioeconomics effects on global hotspots of common debris items on land and the seafloor; Global Environmental Change. Part A
The need for attention to confirmation bias and confounding in the field of plastic pollution and wildlife impacts: comment on “Clinical pathology of plastic ingestion in marine birds and relationships with blood chemistry”; Environmental Science and Technology
These are the plastic items that most kill whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds
Third of dead seabirds found to have eaten rubbish, University of Queensland study finds, by Sharnie Kim
We analysed data from 29,798 clean-ups around the world to uncover some of the worst litter hotspots
What are the deadliest plastics in our oceans?

Research Projects

A novel epigenetic clock tool to conserve Australias threatened seabirds; Australian Research Council (ARC)
Developing an epigenetic DNA ageing method for petrels (family: Procellariidae); Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)
DNA demography for evidence-based seabird recovery; NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. (WIRES)
Health, haematology, disease and parasites in three species of Australian breeding petrels; Birds Australia (BA)
Health, haematology, disease and parasites in three species of Australian-breeding petrels; The Australian Society for Parasitology Inc (ASParas)
More than skin deep: examining the cellular-level effects of ingested plastic on the Flesh-footed shearwater of Lord Howe Island; Australian Geographic Society (AGS)
Plastic, Parasites and Procellariforms: Parasitology as indicators of stress in seabirds; The Australian Society for Parasitology Inc (ASParas)
Population level effects of plastic ingestion in Australasian seabirds; Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation Inc (SWRRFI)
Population level effects of plastic ingestion of Australasian seabirds; Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment (HWRE)
Population-level effects of plastic ingestion in Australasian seabirds; Australian Wildlife Society (AWSoc)
Population-level effects of plastic ingestion in Australasian seabirds; Birdlife Australia (BLA)
Uncovering the Unseen: the sublethal impacts of plastic ingestion on shearwaters; Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment (HWRE)

Research Candidate Supervision