ORCID Profile
0000-0001-9581-9227
Current Organisation
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
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Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 08-12-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-12-2014
DOI: 10.1002/WSB.509
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7491
Abstract: Thermal imaging technology is a developing field in wildlife management. Most thermal imaging work in wildlife science has been limited to larger ungulates and surface‐dwelling mammals. Little work has been undertaken on the use of thermal imagers to detect fossorial animals and/or their burrows. Survey methods such as white‐light spotlighting can fail to detect the presence of burrows (and therefore the animals within), particularly in areas where vegetation obscures burrows. Thermal imagers offer an opportunity to detect the radiant heat from these burrows, and therefore the presence of the animal, particularly in vegetated areas. Thermal imaging technology has become increasingly available through the provision of smaller, more cost‐effective units. Their integration with drone technology provides opportunities for researchers and land managers to utilize this technology in their research/management practices. We investigated the ability of both consumer ( AUD$20,000) and professional imagers ( AUD$65,000) mounted on drones to detect rabbit burrows (warrens) and entrances in the landscape as compared to visual assessment. Thermal imagery and visual inspection detected active rabbit warrens when vegetation was scarce. The presence of vegetation was a significant factor in detecting entrances ( p .001, α = 0.05). The consumer imager did not detect as many warren entrances as either the professional imager or visual inspection ( p = .009, α = 0.05). Active warren entrances obscured by vegetation could not be accurately identified on exported imagery from the consumer imager and several false‐positive detections occurred when reviewing this footage. We suggest that the exportable frame rate (Hz) was the key factor in image quality and subsequent false‐positive detections. This feature should be considered when selecting imagers and suggest that a minimum export rate of 30 Hz is required. Thermal imagers are a useful additional tool to aid in identification of entrances for active warrens and professional imagers detected more warrens and entrances than either consumer imagers or visual inspection.
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 30-03-2022
DOI: 10.1111/TBED.14071
Publisher: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.7882/AZ.2019.016
Abstract: The viral biocontrol agents Myxoma virus (MYXV) and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV1), released in 1950 and 1996 respectively, are the only control tools to have resulted in significant and lasting landscape-scale suppression of rabbit populations in Australia. Multiple conservation benefits and significant economic savings have resulted from the long-term and widespread reductions in rabbit numbers and impacts. In an effort to ‘boost’ rabbit biocontrol, an additional variant of RHDV1 ('K5') was recently released nationwide to counteract the decreasing effectiveness of both RHDV1 and MYXV that results from the evolutionary ‘arms race’ between viruses and their hosts. Two years prior to the K5 release, an exotic RHDV strain (RHDV2) appeared in Australia. The commercially available vaccine used to protect pet and farmed rabbits against the officially released K5 was ineffective against the exotic RHDV2, resulting in numerous deaths of domestic rabbits. This created substantial confusion about which strain was released as a biocontrol tool, as well as renewed concerns amongst pet rabbit owners and rabbit farmers about the use of viruses as lethal rabbit control tools in general. Ongoing effective control of wild rabbits in Australia is absolutely essential to protect the substantial conservation gains made by the long-term suppression of rabbit numbers over the past decades, and there is currently no alternative population control tool to achieve this at the required landscape scale. Vaccine formulations need updating to protect non-target farmed and pet rabbits from circulating field variants, including RHDV2, and to increase public acceptance for the ongoing use of viral biocontrol for feral rabbit populations.
Publisher: Wildlife Disease Association
Date: 07-2017
DOI: 10.7589/2016-06-148
Abstract: Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) was released in Australia as a biocontrol agent for wild European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) in 1995-96 however, its effects were variable across Australia with the greatest population reductions seen in lower annual rainfall areas (<400 mm). There is speculation that the reduced effectiveness observed at higher annual rainfall sites is at least partially due to the presence of a nonpathogenic calicivirus (RCV-A1). The RCV-A1 is related to RHDV and confers partial and transient protection against lethal RHDV infection in laboratory tests. What is not well understood is where, how, and to what degree RCV-A1 impedes the effect of RHDV-mediated rabbit control under field conditions. We investigated seven wild rabbit populations across six states and territories representing different seasonal rainfall zones across Australia, four times during 2011-12, to investigate if the presence and prevalence of RCV-A1 coincided with a change in RHDV immunity status within these populations. Besides serology, tissue s les from both trapped and shot rabbits were collected for virus detection by reverse transcription PCR. Overall, 52% (n=258) of the total s les (n=496) tested positive for RHDV antibodies and 42% (n=208) positive for RCV-A1 antibodies 30% (n=150) of the sera contained antibodies to both viruses. The proportion of rabbits with RHDV antibodies increased significantly at sites where RCV-A1 antibodies were present (χ
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2002
DOI: 10.2193/2009-410
Publisher: Wildlife Disease Association
Date: 10-2005
DOI: 10.7589/0090-3558-41.4.753
Abstract: Recent serologic studies have identified flying foxes (Pteropus spp.) as carriers of leptospirosis however, little is known about the role of flying foxes as carriers of pathogenic Leptospira spp. To determine if Australian Pteropus spp. are carriers of pathogenic Leptospira spp., TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect leptospiral DNA in kidney and urine specimens from four species of flying fox, including the spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus), black flying fox (Pteropus alecto), grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), and little red flying fox (Pteropus scapulatus). Of the 173 kidney s les tested, 19 (11%) were positive for leptospiral DNA. Positive in iduals were detected in all four species significant differences in prevalence were not detected between species, between species within the same geographic area, or between geographically separated s les from the same species. Of the 46 urine s les tested, 18 (39%) tested positive by PCR, confirming that flying foxes shed leptospires into the environment. The detection of leptospiral DNA in the kidneys and urine of flying foxes suggests that flying foxes are carriers of pathogenic Leptospira spp. No evidence collected in the present study, however, suggests that flying foxes pose a significant risk of leptospirosis to the wider community or that humans who are in regular, close contact with flying foxes are at risk for leptospirosis.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-07-2018
Abstract: European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been exposed to rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) and myxoma virus (MYXV) in their native and invasive ranges for decades. Yet, the long-term effects of these viruses on rabbit population dynamics remain poorly understood. In this context, we analysed 17 years of detailed capture-mark-recapture data (2000-2016) from Turretfield, South Australia, using a probabilistic state-space hierarchical modelling framework to estimate rabbit survival and epidemiological dynamics. While RHDV infection and disease-induced death were most prominent during annual epidemics in winter and spring, we found evidence for continuous infection of susceptible in iduals with RHDV throughout the year. RHDV-susceptible rabbits had, on average, 25% lower monthly survival rates compared to immune in iduals, while the average monthly force of infection in winter and spring was ~38%. These combined to result in an average infection-induced mortality rate of 69% in winter and spring. In iduals susceptible to MYXV and immune to RHDV had similar survival probabilities to those having survived infections from both viruses, whereas in iduals susceptible to both RHDV and MYXV had higher survival probabilities than those susceptible to RHDV and immune to MYXV. This suggests that MYXV may reduce the future survival rates of in iduals that endure initial MYXV infection. There was no evidence for long-term changes in disease-induced mortality and infection rates for either RHDV or MYXV. We conclude that continuous, year-round virus perpetuation (and perhaps heterogeneity in modes of transmission and infectious doses during and after epidemics) acts to reduce the efficiency of RHDV and MYXV as biocontrol agents of rabbits in their invasive range. However, if virulence can be maintained as relatively constant through time, RHDV and MYXV will likely continue realizing strong benefits as biocontrol agents.
Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
Date: 15-01-2018
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01374-17
Abstract: Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2 Lagovirus GI.2) is a pathogenic calicivirus that affects European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) and various hare ( Lepus ) species. GI.2 was first detected in France in 2010 and subsequently caused epidemics in wild and domestic lagomorph populations throughout Europe. In May 2015, GI.2 was detected in Australia. Within 18 months of its initial detection, GI.2 had spread to all Australian states and territories and rapidly became the dominant circulating strain, replacing Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV/GI.1) in mainland Australia. Reconstruction of the evolutionary history of 127 Australian GI.2 isolates revealed that the virus arrived in Australia at least several months before its initial description and likely circulated unnoticed in wild rabbit populations in the east of the continent prior to its detection. GI.2 sequences isolated from five hares clustered with sequences from sympatric rabbit populations s led contemporaneously, indicating multiple spillover events into hares rather than an adaptation of the Australian GI.2 to a new host. Since the presence of GI.2 in Australia may have wide-ranging consequences for rabbit biocontrol, particularly with the release of the novel biocontrol agent GI.1a/RHDVa-K5 in March 2017, ongoing surveillance is critical to understanding the interactions of the various lagoviruses in Australia and their impact on host populations. IMPORTANCE This study describes the spread and distribution of Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (GI.2) in Australia since its first detection in May 2015. Within the first 18 months following its detection, RHDV2 spread from east to west across the continent and became the dominant strain in all mainland states of Australia. This has important implications for pest animal management and for owners of pet and farmed rabbits, as there currently is no effective vaccine available in Australia for GI.2. The closely related RHDV (GI.1) is used to control overabundant wild rabbits, a serious environmental and agricultural pest in this country, and it is currently unclear how the widespread circulation of GI.2 will impact ongoing targeted wild rabbit management operations.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 22-08-2022
Abstract: Biological invasions are a major cause of environmental and economic disruption. While ecological factors are key determinants of their success, the role of genetics has been more challenging to demonstrate. The colonization of Australia by the European rabbit is one of the most iconic and devastating biological invasions in recorded history. Here, we show that despite numerous introductions over a 70-y period, this invasion was triggered by a single release of a few animals that spread thousands of kilometers across the continent. We found genetic support for historical accounts that these were English rabbits imported in 1859 by a settler named Thomas Austin and traced the origin of the invasive population back to his birthplace in England. We also find evidence of additional introductions that established local populations but have not spread geographically. Combining genomic and historical data we show that, contrary to the earlier introductions, which consisted mostly of domestic animals, the invasive rabbits had wild ancestry. In New Zealand and Tasmania, rabbits also became a pest several decades after being introduced. We argue that the common denominator of these invasions was the arrival of a new genotype that was better adapted to the natural environment. These findings demonstrate how the genetic composition of invasive in iduals can determine the success of an introduction and provide a mechanism by which multiple introductions can be required for a biological invasion.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 17-09-2014
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-05-2019
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2750
Abstract: With ongoing introductions into Australia since the 1700s, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has become one of the most widely distributed and abundant vertebrate pests, adversely impacting Australia's bio ersity and agroeconomy. To understand the population and range dynamics of the species and its impacts better, occurrence and abundance data have been collected by researchers and citizens from sites covering a broad spectrum of climatic and environmental conditions in Australia. The lack of a common and accessible repository for these data has, however, limited their use in determining important spatiotemporal drivers of the structure and dynamics of the geographical range of rabbits in Australia. To meet this need, we created the Australian National Rabbit Database, which combines more than 50 yr of historical and contemporary survey data collected from throughout the range of the species in Australia. The survey data, obtained from a suite of complementary monitoring methods, were combined with high-resolution weather, climate, and environmental information, and an assessment of data quality. The database provides records of rabbit occurrence (689,265 records) and abundance (51,241 records, >120 distinct sites) suitable for identifying the spatiotemporal drivers of the rabbit's distribution and for determining spatial patterns of variation in its key life-history traits, including maximum rates of population growth. Because all data are georeferenced and date st ed, they can be coupled with information from other databases and spatial layers to explore the potential effects of rabbit occurrence and abundance on Australia's native wildlife and agricultural production. The Australian National Rabbit Database is an important tool for understanding and managing the European rabbit in its invasive range and its effects on native bio ersity and agricultural production. It also provides a valuable resource for addressing questions related to the biology, success, and impacts of invasive species more generally. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set other than citation of this Data Paper.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-10-2012
DOI: 10.1002/WSB.215
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 25-05-2023
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 06-07-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-05-2015
Publisher: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.17863/CAM.85549
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 27-06-2022
Start Date: 2015
End Date: 2018
Funder: National Landcare Programme
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