Dr Bronwyn Fancourt

Research Fellow - School of Environmental and Rural Science

Bronwyn Fancourt

Phone: +61 6773 3349

Mobile: 0417980340

Email: Bronwyn.Fancourt@une.edu.au

Twitter: @BronFancourt

Biography

I am a wildlife ecologist with research interests in threatened species conservation and management, vertebrate pest control, predator interactions and wildlife monitoring. I completed my Honours and PhD research in Tasmania, investigating the cause of decline of the eastern quoll. In 2015‑16 I worked in Canberra helping develop and refine appropriate monitoring techniques to detect and eradicate rabbits from a predator-proof wildlife reserve. Since 2016, I have been working with various state government agencies on improving feral cat management in eastern Australia. I was the Queensland representative on the National Feral Cat Taskforce (2016-2018) and currently provide technical advice to several feral cat control and eradication programs across Australia.

Qualifications

  • 2015 PhD (Wildlife Ecology and Management), University of Tasmania
  • 2015 GradCert in Research, University of Tasmania
  • 2010 BSc (Hons), University of Tasmania
  • 2009 BSc (Zoology, Ecosystem Management), University of New England
  • 2003 Cert IV (Veterinary Nursing), New England Institute of TAFE
  • 1991 BCom (Acc), University of Western Sydney

Awards

  • President’s Award for Early Career Research, Australasian Wildlife Management Society
  • D.W. Cooper Student Thesis Award for thesis of excellence in the field of scientifically-based wildlife management research, Australasian Wildlife Management Society
  • PhD Award for Outstanding Performance during Postgraduate Studies, University of Tasmania

Primary Research Area/s

Applied Ecology; Wildlife Management; Conservation; Invasive Species

Research Interests

Vertebrate pests

Invasive species

Carnivores

Predators

Predator interactions

Wildlife management

Conservation

Threatened species

Research Supervision Experience

Honours, Masters, PhD

Publications

Taggart PL, Fancourt BA,Peacock DE, Caraguel CGB & McAllister MM (2019). Variation in Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence: effects of site, sex, species and behaviour between insular and mainland macropods. Wildlife Research. In press

Taggart PL, Fancourt BA, Fabijan J, Peacock DE, Speight KN, Caraguel CGB & McAllister MM (2019). No evidence of Toxoplasma gondii exposure in South Australian koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). Journal of Parasitology. In press

Taggart PL, Fancourt BA, Bengsen AJ, Peacock DE, Hodgens P, Read JL, McAllister MM & Caraguel CGB (2019). Evidence of significantly higher island feral cat abundance compared to the adjacent mainland. Wildlife Research. In press.

Fancourt BA, Cremasco P, Wilson C & Gentle M (2019). Do dingoes suppress feral cats? Spatial and temporal activity of sympatric feral cats and dingoes in central Queensland. Proceedings of the 1st Queensland Pest Animal and Weeds Symposium, 20-23 May 2019, Gold Coast, Queensland. 50-51.

Fancourt BA, Cremasco P, Harry G, Speed J, Wilson C & Gentle M (2019). Evaluation of different baiting strategies for the control of feral cats in eastern Australia. Proceedings of the 1st Queensland Pest Animal and Weeds Symposium, 20-23 May 2019, Gold Coast, Queensland. 151-155.

Fancourt BA & Nicol SC (2019). Hematologic and serum biochemical reference intervals for wild eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus): variation by age, sex and season. Veterinary Clinical Pathology. 48(1), 114-124.

Hayward MW, Edward S, Fancourt BA, Linnell JDC & Nilsen E (2019). Top-down control of ecosystems and the case for rewilding: does it all add up? In Rewilding (Eds. N. Pettorelli, S. Durant, & J DuToit) (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK). pp. 325-364[Chapter 16].

Fancourt BA, Hawkins CE, & Nicol SC (2018). Mechanisms of climate-change-induced species decline: spatial, temporal and long-term variation in the diet of an endangered marsupial carnivore, the eastern quoll. Wildlife Research. 45(8), 737-750.

Peacock D, Fancourt BA, McDowell M & Abbott I (2018). Survival histories of marsupial carnivores on Australian continental shelf islands highlight climate change and Europeans as likely extirpation factors: implications for island predator restoration. Biodiversity and Conservation. 27(10), 2477-2494.

Fancourt BA, Fletcher D & Sweeney M (2018). More haste, less speed: pilot study suggests camera trap detection zone could be more important than trigger speed to maximise species detections. Australian Mammalogy. 40(1), 118-121.

Legge S, Murphy BP, McGregor H, Woinarski JCZ, Augusteyn J, Ballard G, Baseler M, Buckmaster T, Dickman CR, Doherty T, Edwards G, Eyre T, Fancourt BA, Ferguson D, Forsyth DM, Geary WL, Gentle M, Gillespie G, Greenwood L, Hohnen R, Hume S, Johnson CN, Maxwell M, McDonald PJ, Morris K, Moseby K, Newsome T, Nimmo D, Paltridge R, Ramsey D, Read J, Rendall A, Rich M, Ritchie E, Rowland J, Short J, Stokeld D, Sutherland DR, Wayne AF, Woodford L, & Zewe F (2017). Enumerating a continental-scale threat: how many feral cats are in Australia? Biological Conservation. 206, 293-303.

Fancourt BA, Speed J & Gentle M (2016). Uptake of feral cat baits in eastern Australia. Proceedings of the 5th Queensland Pest Animal Symposium, 7-10 November 2016, Townsville, Queensland, 99-102.

Fancourt BA (2016). Avoiding the subject: the implications of avoidance behaviour for detecting predators. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. 70(9), 1535-1546.

Fancourt BA & Mooney N (2016). Tasmanian devils are likely a blunt instrument: a comment on Hunter et al. (2015). Biological Conservation. 196, 213-214.

Fancourt BA (2016). Diagnosing species decline: a contextual review of threats, causes and future directions for management and conservation of the eastern quoll. Wildlife Research 43(3), 197-211.

Fancourt BA, Hawkins CE, Cameron EZ, Jones ME & Nicol SC (2015).  Devil declines and catastrophic cascades: is mesopredator release of feral cats inhibiting recovery of the eastern quoll? PLOS ONE. 10(3) e0119303.

Fancourt BA (2015). Making a killing: photographic evidence of feral cat (Felis catus) predation of a Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii). Australian Mammalogy 37(1) 120-124.

Fancourt BA, Bateman BL, VanDerWal J, Nicol SC, Hawkins CE, Jones ME & Johnson CN (2015). Testing the role of climate change in species decline: is the eastern quoll a victim of a change in the weather? PLOS ONE. 10(6) e0129420.

Fancourt BA &Jackson RB (2014).  Regional seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in feral and stray cats (Felis catus) from Tasmania. Australian Journal of Zoology 62(4) 272-283.

Fancourt BA, Nicol SC, Hawkins CE, Jones ME & Johnson CN (2014).  Beyond the disease: is Toxoplasma gondii infection causing population declines in the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus)? International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 3(2) 102-112.

Fancourt BA (2014). Rapid decline in detections of the Tasmanian bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) following local incursion of feral cats (Felis catus). Australian Mammalogy 36(2) 247-253.

Jones ME, Burnett S, Claridge A, Fancourt B, Köertner G, Morris K, Peacock D, Troy S & Woinarski J. (2014) Australia’s surviving marsupial carnivores: threats and conservation. In Carnivores of Australia: past, present and future (Eds. AS Glen & CR Dickman) (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood), pp. 201-246.

Fancourt BA, Hawkins CE & Nicol SC (2013).  Evidence of rapid population decline of the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) in Tasmania. Australian Mammalogy 35(2), 195-205.

Memberships

  • Australasian Wildlife Management Society (committee)
  • Australian Mammal Society
  • Wildlife Disease Association – Australasian section