Rohan H Clarke

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Monash University (Australia)

Aim: Increasing interest in holistic measurement of the response of fauna communities to interventions requires suitable community condition metrics. However, the development of such metrics is hindered by the absence of broad-scale typologies at suitable spatial and ecological resolutions. We aimed to derive a preliminary typology of terrestrial b...

Aim Identifying priority species and introduction pathways has long been a goal of national and international policy for reducing and mitigating the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS). Although identifying priority sites for invasion management is included within Target 6 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, methods for doing...

Avian migration exposes birds to a suite of threats across breeding and non-breeding grounds and within migratory corridors. Consequently, research describing migratory behaviours, including phenology and spatial patterns, has important implications for wildlife management and conservation. Tasmanian Boobooks Ninox leucopsis are widely speculated t...

Biochemical and evolutionary interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes (‘mitonuclear interactions’) are proposed to underpin fundamental aspects of biology including evolution of sexual reproduction, adaptation and speciation. We investigated the role of pre‐mating isolation in maintaining functional mitonuclear interactions in wild po...

Small, isolated populations can be especially sensitive to poor habitat conditions due to their limited capacity to adapt or disperse. Management of such populations, with an objective to implement the most effective strategies, is a conservation priority. The Norfolk Island morepork ( Ninox novaeseelandiae undulata ) is a Critically Endangered haw...

Successful island conservation is critical to achieving global biodiversity targets, but significant gaps remain in our understanding of how to effectively engage island communities in conservation efforts. Social and political factors often play a major role in decision‐making processes on inhabited islands, making effective community engagement c...

Threatened species monitoring is challenging for small, cryptic endotherms that are most effectively detected at night. Low detectability is a challenge for monitoring programmes, resulting in low statistical power and sparse or zero‐inflated datasets. To advance conservation management programmes, efforts to address this are required. In recent ye...

Given the frequency with which translocation is implemented as a conservation tool, remarkably little research has assessed the sustainable management of translocation source populations. We sought to make an a priori estimate of the impact of multiple alternative harvesting scenarios on five passerine species endemic to Norfolk Island which may be...

Gadfly petrels Pterodroma spp. are among the most threatened bird taxa. Conservation interventions have been successfully developed and applied for some gadfly petrel species, but a substantial gap remains in conservation science for this group in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The Vanuatu Petrel Pterodroma [cervicalis] occulta is an ideal exemplar to...

Revegetation plantings are a key activity in farmland restoration and are commonly assumed to support biotic communities that, with time, replicate those of reference habitats. Restoration outcomes, however, can be highly variable and difficult to predict; hence there is value in quantifying restoration success to improve future efforts. We test th...

Areas beyond national jurisdiction, or the high seas, are vital to life on Earth. However, the conservation of these areas, for example, through area-based management tools (ABMTs), is challenging, particularly when accounting for global change. Using decision science, integrated population models, and a Critically Endangered seabird (Kuaka; Peleca...

Accurate detection of invasive rodents is essential to guide appropriate management responses, including effective control. Due to the arboreal behaviour of some invasive rodent species, above-ground monitoring may provide managers with a clearer picture of rodent presence. Numerous ground-based rodent monitoring tools have been tested and compared...

Mitonuclear interactions have been proposed as evolutionary drivers of sexual reproduction, sexual selection, adaptation, and speciation. We investigated the role of pre-mating isolation in maintaining functional mitonuclear interactions in a wild population with divergent sets of proposed co-adapted mitonuclear genotypes. Two lineages have been id...

Context Invasive rodents pose a substantial threat to biodiversity and are a leading cause of species decline and extinction on islands. Population suppression using ground-based methods is common practice, though arboreal behaviour of rodents may render control programs less effective. Aims We aimed to quantify species-specific invasive rodent ac...

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPASs), or drones, have had a rapid uptake for scientific applications and are proving particularly valuable for data collection in the natural world. The potential for bird strikes presents a real hazard in these settings. While animal welfare is a primary consideration when planning and executing RPAS operations...

Detection is essential to studying and monitoring wild animals; however, detection is challenging for small endotherms that are nocturnal or best detected at night. Techniques such as trapping or spotlighting disturb focal species, and the effectiveness of spotlighting can be limited for cryptic species, resulting in low detection rates that hinder...

Conservation of breeding seabirds typically requires detailed data on where they feed at sea. Ecological niche models (ENMs) can fill data gaps, but rarely perform well when transferred to new regions. Alternatively, the foraging radius approach simply encircles the sea surrounding a breeding seabird colony (a foraging circle), but overestimates fo...

Plastic pollution is distributed patchily around the world’s oceans. Likewise, marine organisms that are vulnerable to plastic ingestion or entanglement have uneven distributions. Understanding where wildlife encounters plastic is crucial for targeting research and mitigation. Oceanic seabirds, particularly petrels, frequently ingest plastic, are h...

Aim The increasing spread of vector‐borne diseases has resulted in severe health concerns for humans, domestic animals and wildlife, with changes in land use and the introduction of invasive species being among the main possible causes for this increase. We explored several ecological drivers potentially affecting the local prevalence and richness...

Accurate detection of invasive rodents is essential to guide appropriate management responses, including effective control. Due to the arboreal behaviour of some invasive rodent species, above-ground monitoring may provide managers with a clearer picture of rodent presence. Numerous ground-based rodent monitoring tools have been tested and compared...

Observations made by citizen-scientists are highly regarded in many fields of biology. Public participation in research leads to increased environmental stewardship, greater data-acquisition, and multi-disciplinary advances. However, to date, there is a paucity of literature that acknowledges the professional benefits we, as scientists, gain throug...

Advances in technology are changing the way that ecological monitoring is carried out, especially for those species with ecological characteristics that have traditionally made monitoring difficult. Autonomous acoustic recorders coupled with automated signal detection software is one such approach where technological advances are delivering rapid i...

Advances in artificial intelligence for computer vision hold great promise for increasing the scales at which ecological systems can be studied. The distribution and behavior of individuals is central to ecology, and computer vision using deep neural networks can learn to detect individual objects in imagery. However, developing supervised models f...

Gadfly petrels (genus Pterodroma) are one of the most threatened groups of birds. They are exceptionally well adapted to forage over enormous areas to maximize chances of encountering prey. Their wide-ranging travel, extensive use of oceanic habitats beyond national jurisdictions (the high seas), and limited information on their at-sea distribution...

Ecological restoration in rural environments is a global challenge for the 21st century. Restoration measures—such as agri‐environment activities, woodlots, natural regeneration and conservation plantings—collectively alter landscape structure with the aim of restoring conservation values that are characteristic of natural ecosystems. We tested the...

Antibiotic resistance is an ongoing threat to both human and animal health. Migratory birds are a potential vector for the spread of novel pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes. To date, there has been no comprehensive study investigating the presence of antibiotic resistance (AMR) in the bacteria of Australian shorebirds or terns. In the curre...

Background: The helmeted honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix) is a Critically Endangered bird endemic to Victoria, Australia. To aid its conservation, the population is the subject of genetic rescue. To understand, monitor, and modulate the effects of genetic rescue on the helmeted honeyeater genome, a chromosome-length genome and a high-d...

Our understanding of the habitat needs of grassland fauna is often incomplete because of their cryptic behaviour. This presents a barrier to identifying important habitat attributes, whether these change at different spatial scales, and how this informs management decisions. Here, we use a critically endangered bird, the Plains‐wanderer (Pedionomus...

Abstract Emergency conservation interventions will be increasingly necessary to prevent extinctions or severe population bottlenecks as extreme events become more frequent. We detail the emergency extraction of the endangered Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyornis brachpterus) during the unprecedented 2019–2020 Australian Black Summer bushfires, an interve...

Translocation, the human‐mediated movement of organisms from one area to another, is a popular tool in conservation management. Wild‐caught individuals are more likely to persist following release than those sourced from captive breeding. However, this benefit of obtaining individuals from wild populations must be carefully weighed against the pote...

Small‐scale revegetation plantings on farms are common to restoration efforts in agricultural regions worldwide. Such plantings provide habitat for diverse faunal groups. A key question concerns the degree to which their value for biodiversity is influenced by the features of individual plantings, which can be controlled by local land managers, or...

Advances in artificial intelligence for image processing hold great promise for increasing the scales at which ecological systems can be studied. The distribution and behavior of individuals is central to ecology, and computer vision using deep neural networks can learn to detect individual objects in imagery. However, developing computer vision fo...

Light‐level geolocators are popular bio‐logging tools, with advantageous sizes, longevity and affordability. Biologists tracking seabirds often presume geolocator spatial accuracies between 186 and 202 km from previously innovative, yet taxonomically, spatially and computationally limited, studies. Using recently developed methods, we investigated...

On isolated islands, large arthropods can play an important functional role in ecosystem dynamics. On the Norfolk Islands group, South Pacific, we monitored the diet and foraging activity of an endemic chilopod, the Phillip Island centipede (Cormocephalus coynei), and used a stable isotope mixing model to estimate dietary proportions. Phillip Islan...

Conservation breeding management aims to reduce inbreeding and maximize the retention of genetic diversity in endangered populations. However, breeding management of wild populations is still rare, and there is a need for approaches that provide data-driven evidence of the likelihood of success of alternative in-situ strategies. Here, we provide an...

Over the past decade, vertebrate populations globally have experienced significant declines in distribution and abundance. Understanding the reasons behind these population declines is the first step in implementing appropriate management responses to improve conservation outcomes. Uncovering drivers of extirpation events after the fact, however, r...

Restoration of degraded ecosystems is a global issue, particularly in rural regions where excessive loss of natural vegetation has occurred. We investigated, at both landscape and patch scales, the benefits to butterfly communities of restoration by revegetation (planting trees and shrubs), typical of many rural landscapes in south-eastern Australi...

When key ecological information is lacking, conservation translocations should be conducted within an adaptive, experimental framework to maximise knowledge gained and to increase the probability of success. Here we investigated whether timing of release or composition of release groups influenced indices of success during a trial reintroduction of...

Impact assessment is an important and cost‐effective tool for assisting in the identification and prioritization of invasive alien species. With the number of alien and invasive alien species expected to increase, reliance on impact assessment tools for the identification of species that pose the greatest threats will continue to grow. Given the im...

Artificial tree hollows (e.g., nest‐boxes) are commonly deployed to mitigate the loss of mature trees within human‐disturbed landscapes. Their effectiveness as a habitat resource, and thus conservation management tool, is strongly influenced by the suitability of internal microclimate conditions. In south‐eastern Australia, spout hollows are a nest...

A case study and appraisal of success of wild-to-wild translocations of the endangered Mallee Emu-wren. Translocations for this species were required because large wildfires were reducing the number of extant populations over decades. Ultimately, translocations were deemed "Partially Successful" - Survival rates during transport were high and birds...

Species that inhabit spatially-distinct regions at different stages of their lifecycle pose challenges to conservation managers, particularly when distributions span international or jurisdictional boundaries. Despite the importance of non-breeding habitat to the persistence of individuals and species, there remains limited information on the habit...

Citrobacter is a ubiquitous bacterial genus whose members inhabit a variety of niches. Some species are clinically important for both antimicrobial resistance (AMR) carriage and as the cause of nosocomial infections. Surveillance of Citrobacter species in the environment can provide indicators of the spread of AMR genes outside clinical spaces. In...

Salmonella is a zoonotic pathogen that causes gastroenteritis and other disease presentations in both humans and animals. Serovars of S. enterica commonly cause foodborne disease in Australia and globally. In 2016-2017, S . Hvittingfoss was responsible for an outbreak that resulted in 110 clinically confirmed human cases throughout Australia. The o...

Globally, the occurrence of terrestrial vertebrates in mangrove forests is poorly documented, with little empirical data available. This knowledge gap is, at least in part, explained by the challenging survey conditions typically found in these environments. As an ecological understanding of ecosystems is essential to guide conservation management...

In many animal species, individuals re-use the breeding site they used in the previous breeding season. Consequently, they accrue benefits including reduced time searching for a territory, and enhanced predator avoidance. Many seabirds display high levels of nest-site fidelity. We sought to determine whether nest-site fidelity occurs in Red-tailed...

The 'Compassionate Conservation' movement is gaining momentum through its promotion of 'ethical' conservation practices based on self-proclaimed principles of 'first-do-no-harm' and 'individuals matter'. We argue that the tenets of 'Compassionate Conservation' are ideological-that is, they are not scientifically proven to improve conservation outco...

Abstract Making transparent and rational decisions to manage threatened species in situations of high uncertainty is difficult. Managers must balance the optimism of successful intervention with the risk that intervention could make matters worse. We assessed nest protection options for regent honeyeaters (Anthochaera phrygia) in Australia. Formal...

Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA or drones) have become a powerful tool for use in spatial and temporal ecology. Major benefits for environmental management, including improved accuracy and precision for population monitoring of fauna, are being realized. We used Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) as a model system to assess how counts and...

Compassionate conservation focuses on 4 tenets: first, do no harm; individuals matter; inclusivity of individual animals; and peaceful coexistence between humans and animals. Recently, compassionate conservation has been promoted as an alternative to conventional conservation philosophy. We believe examples presented by compassionate conservationis...

Anthropogenic environmental change is driving the rapid loss of biodiversity. Large declines in the abundance of historically common species are now emerging as a major concern. Identifying declining populations through long‐term biodiversity monitoring is vital for implementing timely conservation measures. It is, therefore, critical to evaluate t...

Birds can spread microorganisms through their movement; however, it is still not fully understood how wild birds acquire and disperse antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria. We sampled wild Australian birds from three geographically distinct locations for the presence of AMR strains of two clinically important species of bacteria, Escherichia coli...

en Most birds sleep while roosting at night. Although a widespread behavior, few investigators have studied the nocturnal roosting behavior of birds. Studies conducted to date have either focused on species that roost communally or used radio‐telemetry to locate sleeping individuals of a few focal species. Portable thermal cameras capable of detect...

Feather fouling is a primary cause of seabird mortality during marine hydrocarbon oil spills. Understanding how oils interact with feathers is an important step in mitigating this threat. Seabird feathers from 12 taxa, representing most seabird families from the tropics and southern latitudes, were exposed to crude and condensate oil films under la...

Human modification of the environment is driving declines in population size and distributional extent of much of the world's biota. These declines extend to many of the most abundant and widespread species, for which proportionally small declines can result in the loss of vast numbers of individuals, biomass, and interactions. These losses could h...

We compared the primary molt of the 4 species of skuas and jaegers (Stercorariidae) that breed in the Northern Hemisphere: Long-tailed Jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus), Parasitic Jaeger (S. parasiticus), Pomarine Jaeger (S. pomarinus), and Great Skua (S. skua). We analyzed primary molt data of 1,573 individuals of multiple age classes, mostly coll...