Dr Amy Edwards

Amy joined the PEST (Practical Ecology, Science and Technology) research team in September 2019, having just completed a 3-year Ecology and Evolution postdoctoral award at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Amy undertook her PhD and first post-doctoral appointment at the University of Tasmania, where she held collaborations with, and spent much time working at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and Cambridge University in England.

Amy’s research interests focus mainly on conservation biology of native Australian marsupials, particularly on reproductive physiology and behaviour. Amy splits her time between UNE and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, where she is a project officer and western site leader for the Environmental Trust’s Major Project: Developing Effective Management Strategies for Feral Cats. The western region has three Nature Reserves where we compare experimental feral cat management in one site with ‘business as usual’ in our other sites to determine various techniques’ efficacy for feral cat control and their safety for a selection of priority native species. In the western sites we have upwards of 500 remote cameras and we run one of Australia’s largest pitfall trapping surveys twice a year. Amy’s research within the PEST research team focusses on the response of native marsupials to feral cat predation, as well as monitoring the general trends of introduced and native species in the central mallee region of NSW.

Amy’s previous research has focussed on reproductive ecology of mammals, including undertaking the first double labelled fluorescent in-situ hybridization on marsupial sperm and comparisons with offspring birth sex ratios. Amy also investigated the relationships between stress, synthetic glucocorticoids, and sex ratios in captivity. She has shown transgenerational effects of stress that create biased offspring sex ratios which impact on captive breeding of mammals. Amy undertook one of the first reviews of the potential impacts of sperm sex ratio biases on offspring sex ratios and has shown that coital rates of males is reflected in offspring sex ratios. Amy received the Australian Mammal Society President’s Award for Early Career Research in 2021 for work in field of reproductive ecology in Australia, and her contribution to the society over the last 10 years.

Amy was a member of Homeward Bound’s third cohort of female scientists to venture to Antarctica. She is passionate about raising the profile of female scientists, while making good choices for our planet. Amy has a strong background in science communication, and was one of the leaders for the Young Tassie Scientists program for many years. Amy has presented in upwards of 200 schools, and 30 public events, sharing her love of science and ecology with young minds, and the general public. Amy received the Ecological Society Award for Outstanding Outreach in 2016, and has published her research on working with children and animals.

Amy’s favourite marsupials are swamp wallabies, and all things dasyurid!