Dr Martin Fortescue


B.App.Sc. M.App.Sc. PhD [UC]

Current Position: Operations Manager, Booderee National Park.
Thesis Topic: Oceanographic change and breeding success of the Little Penguin on Bowen Island, Jervis Bay.
Research Interests: Endangered species (small mammals), rehabilitation of debilitated aeas, weed management and control.
Contact: Tel: 044 421034 [International: +61 6 044 421034] Fax: 044 421063 [International: +61 6 044 421063] Email: fortescue@aerg.canberra.edu.au www: http://aerg.canberra.edu.au/pub/aerg/staff/stuforte.htm
Postal Address: Booderee National Park, Village Road, Jervis Bay, NSW 2540, Australia
(aerg.canberra.edu.au)

Applied Ecology Research Group

Research Interest
Endangered species (small mammals), rehabilitation of debilitated aeas, weed management and control.
 Thesis Topic
The Effect of Oceanographic Change on the Breeding Success of the Little Penguin on Bowen Island, Jervis Bay.
 Qualifications
M.App.Sc. (1991) Applied Ecology Research Group, University of Canberra
 Current Positions
PhD Candidate, Applied Ecology Research Group, University of Canberra
  
Contact
Jervis Bay National Park Australian Nature Conservation Agency Village Road JERVIS BAY NSW 2540
Phone National: 044 421034; International: +61 6 044 421034
Fax National: 044 421063; International: +61 6 044 421063
 
 

Conservation Biology & Native Species Research
Applied Ecology Research Group
Conservation Biology & Native Species Research

Background
Interest in protecting native plant and animal species has intensified in the last few decades. Both scientists and the general public have realized that the threats to wildlife have increased, with many species facing the possibility of extinction. Conservation biology, which was developed to deal with these issues, requires an interdisciplinary approach. We need to study ecology, to know how the species interacts with its environment so that key elements of its environment can be protected or manipulated to ensure the species survival. We need to know something of the demographic processes leading to extinction, so that those processes and the factors influencing them can be manipulated to stem or reverse a species' decline. If species are to be conserved in the context in which they evolved, so that they have the potential to persist in the long term and to continue to evolve and speciate, then we need to learn something of their population genetics.
Relevant information must be presented in a useful form to those in a position to decide policy and direct resources. Managers seeking to achieve conservation objectives must weigh the advantages of conserving a species against the competing interests seeking to exploit the species or its habitat. Research undertaken by the Applied Ecology Research Centre is designed to provide increased understanding of species biology, especially where this is relevant to conservation, and to provide this information in a form readily usable by agencies with a responsibility for species conservation.
Of a lower priority, but perhaps equally important in the longer term, is research directed at fundamental understanding of the biology of the Australian biota, whether or not they are in decline. As an island continent, Australia has a flora and fauna characterised by a high level of endemism. The fourteen families of marsupials are found in Australia and New Guinea, but nowhere else. We have the platypus and echidnas, the lyrebirds and scrub-birds, a spectacular radiation among the kingfishers, the pygopodid lizards, a snake fauna dominated by the elapidae, the pig-nosed turtle, two major radiations of frogs and a high level of endemicity among our freshwater fishes. Similar and equally striking examples could be provided from the flora.
The Gondwanal origins of the Australian continent also have had a profound influence on the composition of the flora and fauna. From a northern hemisphere perspective, the Australian biota is unusual indeed.
Long-standing isolation, Gondwanal origins and a dry and highly variable climate pervading much of the continent, provide many opportunities for studying evolution and ecology, opportunities that are unavailable to biologists on other continents.
The major thrust of many of the projects in this programme is to conduct research on the ecology, evolution and systematics of native species and so contribute to fundamental knowledge of the Australian fauna and flora and to theoretical frameworks which underpin our understanding of animal and plant biology.
Projects
Many projects conducted by staff and postgraduates of the Applied Ecology Research Group are centred on species or issues of conservation priority or management relevance. They include studies of recently established populations of the small macropod Bettongia pennicillata, conservation biology of the endangered pink-tailed legless lizard Aprasia parapulchella, population genetics of insular lizards following recent and not so recent habitat fragmentation, ecology and management of penguins at Jervis Bay, distribution and ecology of the rare pig-nosed turtle, ecology and management of Australian birds of prey, and the conservation of declining amphibian populations in the Australian Alps.
Projects of less immediate relevance to conservation but important nevertheless because of their contribution to fundamental understanding of the biology of the Australian biota include studies of the effect of Aboriginal harvests on reproductive parameters of magpie geese, ecology of Australian birds of prey, comparative diets of tree-rats in the Kimberlies, patterns and processes of regeneration in butterbush, biochemical systematics and evolution of Australian turtles, identification of cryptic species of frogs of the Alps and reptiles, ant-lizard relationships, and temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles.
Profile
The research progam has a national profile through its links to priority areas identified by the Commonwealth and State governments and funded through their agencies. For example, research is or has been funded through the
Endangered Species Progam of the Australian Nature Conservation Agency;
parks and conservation agencies of the ACT, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland;
Australian Alps National Parks Liaison Committee;
ACT Planning Authority;
ACT Electricity and Water.
Through this research, the Group has built up a national reputation for conducting targeted conservation-related research in its particular areas of expertise, and is now regularly approached directly by agencies to take a leading role in such research.
Progam Leader
Dr Will Osborne, [Reptiles and Amphibians]
Other Research Staff
Dr Arthur Georges, [Wildlife Biology]
Dr David Williams, [Vegetation Ecology]
Mr Gerry Olsen, [Raptor Biology]
Dr Anne Kerle (Alice Springs), [Small Mammals]
Dr Ken Green (Kosciusko), [Small Mammals]
Dr John Harris, [Environmental Education]
Dr John Dearn, [Population Genetics]
Dr Jim Hone, [Wildlife Management]
Visiting Research Fellows
Prof. Terry Graham, (1994,96) [Turtle Biologist]
Prof. Brad Shaffer, (1995,96) [Molecular Biologist and Herpetologist]
Dr Rod Kennett, (1996) [Wildlife Biologist]
Current Postgraduate Students
Kerry Beggs, [Honours, TSD in field nests of Carettochelys]
Sean Doody, [PhD, TSD in field nests of Carettochelys]
Virginia Ebsworth, [Honours, penguin ecology]
Lisa Evans, [PhD, riparian vegetation dynamics]
Martin Fortescue, [PhD, penguin ecology]
Jeff Foulkes, [PhD, brushtail possums]
Enzo Guarino, [Honours, water dragons]
David Hunter, [Masters, corroboree frogs]
Sandra ones, [PhD, legless lizards]
David Judge, [Masters, the Sydney tortoise]
Michael Smith, [Honours, ###]
Scott Thomson, [Masters, chelid morphology and systematics]
Paul Wallace, [Masters, ###]
Former Postgraduate Students
Sarah Broomhall, [Honours, frog declines]
Simon Holloway, [Masters, Gippsland Frogs]
Robert Jansens, [Honours, earless dragons]
Mutjindi Katjiua, [Masters, trees and native pasture]
Art Langston, [Honours, earless dragons]
Neil McElhinney, [Masters, Green and Gold Bellfrogs]
Tony Richards, [Honours, Phragmites ecology]
Wayne Robinson, [Masters, ant-lizard relationships]
Michelle Walters, [Honours, pigmy possum]
Donna Nunan,[Honours, legless lizards]
Sharon Kilgour [Honours, terrestrial migration in freshwater turtles]
Suzanna Podrika [Honours, environmental contaminants and sex determination in reptiles]
Soma Trenggana, [Masters, Indonesian rhino] Fiona Beynon [Honours, oxygen consumption in turtle eggs]
Michaela Sraml [Masters, waterfowl systematics]
Sandra Jones, [Honours, legless lizards]
Nick Dexter [Masters, Aboriginal harvests of Magpie Geese]
Martin Fortescue [Masters, Penguin breeding biology]
Civa Morton [Honours, diet of tree rats]
Flywell Munyenyembe [Masters, urban bird distribution]
Wayne Murray, [Masters, koalas]
Lyn Nelson, [Masters, woylies]
Stephen Sarre, [Masters, insular lizards]
Doug Wahl, [Masters, flying foxes]
Selected Publications
DEXTER, N. and BAYLISS, P. (1991). The effect of experimental clutch harvest on numbers of magpie goose nests and juvenile recruitment. Wildlife Research 18:533-538.
GEORGES, A. (1989). Female turtles from hot nests: Is it amount of development or duration of incubation at high temperatures that matters? Oecologia, Berlin 81:323-329.
GEORGES, A. and ADAMS, M. (1992). A phylogeny for the Australian chelid turtles based on allozyme electrophoresis. Australian Journal of Zoology 40:453-476.
GEORGES, A. (1994). Setting conservation priorities for Australian freshwater turtles. Pp: 49-58 in Lunney, D. and Ayers, D. (eds). Herpetology in Australia -- A Diverse Discipline. Trans. Roy. Soc. NSW Surrey Beatty ad Sons, Chipping North.
GEORGES, A., STOUTJESDIJK, R. and LIMPUS, C.J. (1994). Hatchling sex in the marine turtle Caretta caretta is determined by proportion of development at a temperature not daily duration of exposure. Journal of Experimental Zoology 270:432-444.
KENNETT, R., GEORGES, A. and PALMER-ALLEN, M. (1993). Early developmental arrest during immersion of eggs of a tropical freshwater turtle, Chelodina rugosa (Testudinata: Chelidae), from northern Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 41:37-45.
GEORGES, A. and ADAMS, M. (1996). Electrophoretic delineation of species boundaries for the short-necked chelid turtles of Australia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London. In press.
MUNYENYEMBE, F.E., HARRIS, J.A., NIX, H. and HONE, J. (1989). Determinants of bird distribution and abundance in suburban Canberra, Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 14:549-557.
OSBORNE, W.S. (1989). Distribution, relative abundance and conservation status of the corroboree frog Pseudophryne corroboree Moore (Anura: Myobatrachidae). Australian Wildlife Research 16:537-547.
OSBORNE, W.S. and NORMAN, J.H. (1991). Conservation genetics of corroboree frogs, Pseudophryne corroboree Moore (Anura: Myobatrachidae): population subdivision and divergence. Australian Journal of Zoology 39:285-297.
SARRE, S. and DEARN, J.M. (1991). Morphological variation and fluctuating asymmetry among insular populations of the sleepy lizard Trachydosaurus rugosus (Squamata: Scincidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 39:91-104.
SARRE, S., DEARN, J.M. and GEORGES, A. (1994). The application of fluctuating asymmetry in the monitoring of wildlife populations. Pacific Conservation Biology 1:118-122.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Applied Ecology Research Group
Unrefereed Journal Articles

DEARN, J.M. (1992). Maintaining the quality of first year science teaching. Research and Development in Higher Education 15:367-374.
FORTESCUE, M.E. (1992). Little Penguins and seagrass meadows. Australian Ranger Bulletin, Autumn 1992.
GEORGES, A., CHOQUENOT, D., COVENTRY, A.J. and WELLINGS, P. (1989) A note on Carettochelys insculpta (Testudinata: Carettochelydidae) from northern Australia. Northern Territory Naturalist 11:8-11.
GILLESPIE, G.R. and OSBORNE, W.S. (1994). Update on the status of the spotted tree frog (Litoria spenceri) in the Australian Capital Territory. The Victorian Naturalist 111:182-183.
HARRIS, J.A.and DEARN, J.M. (1990). The challenge of teaching ecology. New Education 12:97-107.
HONE, J. and STONE, C. (1989). A comparison and evaluation of feral pig management in two national parks. Wildlife Society Bulletin17:419-425.
JONES, S.R. (1993). Pink-tailed legless lizards: One of Canberra's own. Bogong 14(3):9.
KENNETT, R. and GEORGES, A. (1989). Turtles of the Top End. Northern Territory Naturalist 11:31.
KRISTO, F. and FORTESCUE, M.E. (1991). At home with penguins. Birds International 2(1):50-58.
OLSEN, J. (1990). Further thoughts on risk of accident and reversed sexual dimorphism in raptors. Australasian Raptor Association News 11:30-31.
OLSEN, P. and OLSEN, J. (1990). Australian raptors. Eyas 13:22-24.
OLSEN, P., MALLINSON, D. and OLSEN, J. (1990). The bird community of Mg Mugga, ACT: June 1982 to January 1986. Australian Bird Watcher 14:13-23.
OLSEN, P.D. and OLSEN, J. (1989). Australia's Brown Falcon. Birds International 11(2):68-72.
OSBORNE, W.S. (1990). Declining frog populations and extinctions in the Canberra region. Bogong 11:4-7.
OSBORNE, W.S. (1992). Rare and endangered: The corroboree frog. Australian Natural History 1992:16-17.
OSBORNE, W.S., KUKOLIC, K., DAVIS, M.S. and BLACKBURN, R. (1993). Recent records of the earless dragon Typanocryptis lineata pinguicolla in the Canberra region and a description of its habitat. Herpetofauna 23:16-25.
OSBORNE, W.S., GILLESPIE, G.R. and KUKOLIC, K. (1994). The spotted tree frog Litoria spenceri: an addition to the amphibian fauna of the Australian Capital Territory. Victorian Naturalist 111:60-64.
ROSS, T., OLSEN, P., OLSEN, J. and METCALFE, R. (1989). Incubation period of the collared sparrowhawk. Australian Bird Watcher 13:59-61.