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Bronwyn Fancourt

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Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England

Bronwyn Fancourt completed a PhD in wildlife ecology and threatened species conservation at the University of Tasmania. Between 2010-2015, her research focussed on the decline of the eastern quoll in Tasmania and investigating the likely causes of the decline. This research involved extensive investigations into the impacts of climate change, disease and predator interactions on eastern quoll populations. Between 2016-2019, Bronwyn worked for Biosecurity Queensland researching ways to improve feral cat management in eastern Australia. She is currently working as a Research Scientist with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and as a Research Fellow at the University of New England researching the management and interactions of introduced and native predators, including dingoes, foxes, feral cats and spotted-tailed quolls, and the response of key native fauna to intensive predator control.

Experience

  • 2019–present
    Research scientist, Department of Planning, Industry & Environment
  • 2019–present
    Research fellow, University of New England
  • 2016–2019
    Research scientist, Biosecurity Queensland
  • 2015–2019
    Honorary Research Associate, University of Tasmania
  • 2011–2014
    PhD candidate in wildlife ecology, University of Tasmania

Education

  • 2015 
    University of Tasmania, PhD
  • 2013 
    University of Tasmania, GradCert(Res)
  • 2010 
    University of Tasmania, BSc(Hons)
  • 2009 
    University of New England, BSc (Zoology, Ecosystem Management)
  • 1991 
    University of Western Sydney, BComm (Acc)

Publications

  • 2021
    Fancourt BA, Augusteyn JD, Cremasco P, Nolan B, Richards S, Speed J, Wilson C, Gentle MN. Measuring, evaluating and improving the effectiveness of invasive predator control programs: feral cat baiting as a case study, Journal of Environmental Management
  • 2020
    Taggart PL, Fancourt BA, Peacock DE, McAllister M and Caraguel CGB. Variation in Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence: effects of site, sex, species and behaviour between insular and mainland macropods, Wildlife Research
  • 2020
    Taggart PL, Peacock DE and Fancourt BA. Camera trap flash type does not influence feral cat behaviour, Australian Mammalogy
  • 2019
    Taggart PL, Fancourt BA, Fabijan J, Peacock DE, Speight KN, Caraguel CGB and McAllister M. No evidence of Toxoplasma gondii exposure in South Australian koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), Journal of Parasitology
  • 2019
    Taggart PL, Fancourt BA, Bengsen AJ, Peacock DE, Hodgens P, Read JL, McAllister MM & Caraguel CGB. Evidence of significantly higher island feral cat abundance compared to the adjacent mainland, Wildlife Research
  • 2019
    Fancourt BA and Nicol SC. Hematologic and serum biochemical reference intervals for wild eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus): variation by age, sex and season, Veterinary Clinical Pathology
  • 2019
    Hayward MW, Edwards S, Fancourt BA, Linnell JDC and Nilsen EB. Top-down control of ecosystems and the case for rewilding: does it all add up?, Rewilding
  • 2019
    Fancourt BA, Cremasco P, Wilson C, Gentle MN. Do introduced apex predators suppress introduced mesopredators? A multiscale spatiotemporal study of dingoes and feral cats in Australia suggests not, Journal of Applied Ecology
  • 2019
    Fancourt BA, Hawkins CE and Nicol SC. 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
  • 2018
    Fancourt BA, Sweaney M and Fletcher DB. More haste, less speed: pilot study suggests camera trap detection zone could be more important than trigger speed to maximise species detections, Australian Mammalogy
  • 2018
    Peacock DE, Fancourt BA, McDowell MC and Abbott I. 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
  • 2017
    Legge S. et al. Enumerating a continental-scale threat: How many feral cats are in Australia?, Biological Conservation
  • 2016
    Fancourt BA. Avoiding the subject: the implications of avoidance behaviour for detecting predators, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
  • 2016
    Fancourt BA. Diagnosing species decline: a contextual review of threats, causes and future directions for management and conservation of the eastern quoll, Wildlife Research
  • 2016
    Fancourt BA and Mooney N. Tasmanian devils are likely a blunt instrument: A comment on Hunter et al. (2015), Biological Conservation
  • 2015
    Fancourt B.A. Drought, disease or devil declines? Identifying the cause of decline of the eastern quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus. Implications for conservation and management., PhD thesis. School of Biological Sciences. University of Tasmania, Hobart
  • 2015
    Fancourt B.A., Hawkins C.E., Cameron E.Z., Jones M.E. and Nicol S.C. Devil declines and catastrophic cascades: is mesopredator release of feral cats inhibiting recovery of the eastern quoll?, PLOS ONE
  • 2015
    Fancourt, B.A. Making a killing: photographic evidence of feral cat (Felis catus) predation of a Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii), Australian Mammalogy
  • 2015
    Fancourt B.A., Bateman B.L., VanDerWal J., Nicol S.C., Hawkins C.E., Jones M.E. and Johnson C.N. Testing the role of climate change in species decline: is the eastern quoll a victim of a change in the weather?, PLOS ONE
  • 2014
    Jones M, Burnett S, Claridge A, Fancourt B, Körtner G, Morris K, Peacock D, Troy S, Woinarski J. Australia’s surviving marsupial carnivores: threats and conservation, Carnivores of Australia: Past, Present and Future
  • 2014
    Fancourt, B.A., Nicol, S.C., Hawkins, C.E., Jones, M.E., Johnson, C.N. Beyond the disease: is Toxoplasma gondii infection causing population declines in the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus)?, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife
  • 2014
    Fancourt, B.A., Jackson, R.B. Regional seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in feral and stray cats (Felis catus) from Tasmania., Australian Journal of Zoology
  • 2014
    Fancourt, B.A.. Rapid decline in detections of the Tasmanian bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) following local incursion of feral cats (Felis catus)., Australian Mammalogy
  • 2013
    Fancourt, B.A., Nicol, S.C., Hawkins, C.E. Evidence of rapid population decline of the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) in Tasmania., Australian Mammalogy
  • 2010
    Fancourt, B.A.. Spatial and temporal variation in declining eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) populations in Tasmania, BSc(Hons) thesis. School of Zoology. University of Tasmania, Hobart.
  • 2009
    Fancourt, B.A.. Measurement of defaecation rates in captive swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor)., Australian Mammalogy