In 2005, Jody started a PhD on our collaborative ARC Linkage grant-funded program with
VicRoads, Rodney van der Ree (ARCUE), Mark Burgman (Melbourne Uni), Andrea Taylor & Paul Sunnucks (Monash Uni) -
see summaries below & link to roads project.
Jody is investigating the impacts of different configurations of roads and associated remnant vegetation on population
biology of a species of skink and an invertebrate. With that information, Jody with collaborate with demographic population
modellers working in this program to assess the likely outcomes in terms of population peristence/extinction, and will
investigate the effectiveness of different approaches to mitigating any negative impacts.
What value has different sorts of roadside vegetation for wildlife?
Project summaries of ARC Linkage-funded research program
Project
summary In fragmented landscapes, wildlife need to move between habitat patches to exchange genes, increase
the size of declining populations and recolonise areas were animals have become extinct. For many species, roads may
act as barriers that prevent or limit dispersal, potentially isolating some habitats. In this study, we aim to quantify
the extent to which major highways in regional Australia form a barrier to the movement of mammals and invertebrates.
We will then test the effectiveness of measures that may facilitate safe crossing by measuring their rate of use, reduction
in road kill and increase in population viability. This information can then be used to construct major roads that are
more environmentally sustainable.
Public summary Roads are critical to the social and economic health of all Australians.
There is an ongoing program to widen and straighten roads to increase travel efficiency and human safety. While roads
are expensive to build and maintain, we also need to know their true environmental cost. Conflict often arises in rural
and regional Australia where highways dissect bushland that is home to native wildlife. We aim to quantify the extent
to which major roads form a barrier to the movement of wildlife, either through increased mortality due to roadkill
or by animals avoiding the road and traffic. We will then investigate the effectiveness of different mitigation measures
designed to decrease the negative environmental effects of roads.
Jody Taylor Honours Research:
Comparative phylogeography of log-dwelling invertebrates (flatworms)
Jody's work was based at our main comparative phylogeography study site at
Tallaganda State Forest / National
Park, NSW, and extends and leads from work by
Mark Blacket and
Sherryn Ciavaglia
Jody compared how genetic patterning of a fast-moving flatworm compares with that of a slower-moving species.
She focused particularly on the contact zones we know to exist between separate subregions of the forest within
our 100 Km transect at Tallaganda & Badja (southern region NSW)
