Ayesha’s research examined cost-effective resource allocation and decision-making processes for monitoring and management of threats to biodiversity.

Her PhD focused on integrating disciplinary perspectives (economic, social, and environmental) to evaluate approaches for prioritising conservation investments in multiple stakeholder landscapes. The case study area was the biodiversity hotspot of south west Australia, where she investigated the benefits and costs of a range of monitoring and management options. These included selecting cost-effective indicator species to monitor invasive predator control, understanding the motivations of private landholders, who conduct conservation activities to prioritise collaborative management, prioritising actions for the mitigation of threats to biodiversity, and optimising the usefulness of volunteer-collected datasets for scientific research and conservation planning.

Ayesha developed frameworks and tools for prioritising investment for conservation of threatened species and ecosystems, and found novel ways of analysing data to provide decision-makers and land managers with information not only on the species or systems, but also about the people carrying out the monitoring. She was supervised by Dr Kerrie Wilson, Dr Tara Martin (CSIRO) and Professor Hugh Possingham (School of Biological Sciences, UQ).

Ayesha’s broad research interests include systematic conservation planning, structured decision-making, and optimal monitoring and management of multiple threats and species. She has a particular interest in invasive predators, cost-effectiveness analysis, network theory, and transboundary conservation issues such as collaboration between stakeholders and how to conserve migratory species.

PhD Candidate, University of Queensland, January 2009- February 2013

Email: a.tulloch@uq.edu.au

Blog posts by Ayesha

Publications:

Tulloch, A.I.T. & Szabo, J.K. (2012), A behavioural ecology approach to understand volunteer surveying for citizen science datasets. Emu. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU12009

Tulloch, A. I. T., Mustin, K., Possingham, H. P., Szabo, J. K. and Wilson, K. A. (2012), To boldly go where no volunteer has gone before: predicting volunteer activity to prioritize surveys at the landscape scale. Diversity and Distributions. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2012.00947.x

Tulloch, A., Possingham H.P. and Wilson, K.A. (2011). Wise Selection of an Indicator for Monitoring the Success of Management Actions. Biological Conservation 144(1):141-154 doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.08.009

Tulloch, A. (2010).  Selecting good indicators – Effective management in Gondwana Link depends on good guidance. Decision Point 36

Tulloch, A.I. and Dickman, C.R. (2007) Effects of food and fire on the demography of a nectar-feeding marsupial: a field experiment. Journal of Zoology, London 273(4): 382-388.  DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00339.x

Tulloch, A.I. and Dickman, C.R. (2006) Floristic and structural components of habitat use in the eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus) in burnt and unburnt habitat. Journal of Wildlife Research 33(8): 627-637. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR0605

Tulloch, A. (2004) The Importance of Food and Shelter for Habitat Use and Conservation of the Burramyids in Australia. In The Biology of Australian Possums and Gliders (Eds. R. L. Goldingay and S. M. Jackson), Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales, Australia, Pp. 268-284.

Tulloch, A. (2003) Post-fire Distribution, Abundance and Habitat Use of Small Mammals in Royal National Park, Heathcote National Park and Garawarra State Recreation Area, NSW: A Survey Targeting the Eastern Pygmy Possum, Cercartetus nanus. Unpublished report, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.