Projects
Loss of anti-predator behaviour in Australian mammals
For my PhD thesis, I am looking at anti-predator behaviour in Australia’s threatened mammals. Australia is facing unprecedented rates of extinction, and one strategy used to preserve our species, is to keep them within predator-free havens - areas which are isolated from predators by a physical barrier, such as islands or fenced areas. While havens have successfully secured a number of species, evidence is now emerging that inside havens in the absence of predators, populations are losing their ability to respond to and evade predators. This renders individuals completely unfit for reintroduction back into their natural habitat, where predators still exist. Throughout my PhD, I aim to develop a behavioural assessment to measure how well individuals can (or cannot) respond to predators, to identify populations at risk and to start to investigate drivers of the loss of anti-predator behaviour. Finally, I will determine any consequences on survival and reproduction that different anti-predator responses may have, which will provide conservation managers with the tools and evidence-based information to preserve anti-predator responses in newly havened populations, and better select individuals for future translocation.
Harrison, N., […]., Mitchell, N. (2021). Identifying the most effective behavioural assays and predator cues for quantifying anti-predator responses in mammals: a systematic review protocol https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00253-9
Harrison, N & Kelly, E. (in review). Affordable RFID loggers for monitoring animal movement, activity and behaviour.
Harrison, N., Frick, C., Wayne, A. (in review). Repeatable measure of cage trap behaviour to quantify boldness and agitation in a macropod.
Harrison, N., […]., Phillips, B. and Mitchell, N. (in review). Perverse outcomes from fencing fauna: loss of anti-predator traits in a havened mammal population.
Same data, different analysts
Like me, have you ever wondered what effect individual decisions can have on statistical analyses? During lockdown in 2020, I took part in a large collaborative study investigating the influence of individual analysts’ decisions on effect sizes in ecology and evolution. Each collaborator answered the same pre-determined question with the same data-set and the paper will evaluate the extent to which effect sizes differ between analysts. The study has been provisionally accepted to BMC Biology so keep an eye out!
Fraser, H., Harrison, N., […] and Parker, T. H. (in prep, provisionally accepted). Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology. BMC Biology.
Kalahari meerkat project
Between 2017 and 2019 I was a research assistant for the Kalahari meerkat project, and an on-site manager for the meerkat dispersal project in South Africa. My work was field-based and involved radio tracking wild meerkat groups, building, testing and deploying GPS and accelerometer collars, and liasing with international collaborators. My enthusiasm and work ethic led to a variety of collaborations, and after my time in the Kalahari, I travelled to Zurich to complete my MSc using the meerkat data I helped to collect. My project focussed on dispersing female meerkats, and how their behaviour and physiology changes across the dispersal process. My thesis was titled “Behavioural change during dispersal and its demographic consequences in a cooperative breeder”, which is now published. I was lucky enough to present my work through a poster presentation at the British Ecological Society Annual meeting in Belfast, 2019, and during a short talk at Biology20, a conference in Fribourg, Switzerland.
Harrison, N., […]., Ozgul, A., and Cozzi, G. (2021). Behavioural change during dispersal and its relationship to survival and reproduction in a cooperative breeder https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13569
Cram D., Harrison, N., […] and Clutton-Brock T. (in prep). Effects of experimental contraception of dominant female meerkats on behaviour, physiology and reproduction of other group members.
Chakravarty, P., Harrison, N., […] and Aminian, K. (2020). Behavioural time-energy budgets and foraging strategies in meerkats: a study with validated accelerometer-based behaviour recognition. DOI: 10.5075/epfl-thesis-7579
IUCN Australian Squamate Assessment
In 2017, I was one of four students across Australia selected to take part in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list assessment for Australia’s squamate species. I was required to perform extensive literature reviews and create individual profiles for over 200 species - which are now published on the IUCN Red List website (eg. Frilled Lizard, Chlamydosaurus kingii). Following an intense workshop with Australia’s reptile experts, the information was collated to determine national patterns of extinction risk.
Tingley, R., Harrison, N., […] and Chapple, D. G. et al. (2019). Geographic and taxonomic patterns of extinction risk in Australian squamates. Biological Conservation, 238:108203. link
Quantitative and analytical skills
- R: Four years of experience using R in data visualization and statistical analyses, most prominently general and generalized linear mixed effects models, Cox proportional hazard models, spatially explicity capture-recapture models, principal component analysis, and extensive use of the tidyverse.
- JAGS: Fundamental understanding of JAGS language for use in Bayesian computing of N-Mixture, CJS and multi-state population modelling.
- MySQL: Extracting and manipulating data from large datasets, three years of experience.
- Python: Foundational understanding for data handling, analysis, and visualisation using NumPy, pandas, and Matplotlib.
- GIS: Basic experience extracting, creating and manipulating layers to visualize and analyse spatial/geographic data.
- LaTeX: Used regularly for formatting and presenting documents.
Practical and field based skills
- VHF radio tracking: 2 years experience in tracking habituated, collared, Meerkats - with dispersing individuals ranging up to 15km.
- Capturing wild animals: Experience trapping a variety of taxa, using specific trapping methods - including pitfall traps, mist nets, Elliot traps, Havahart cage-traps, and camera traps.
- Deploying data-collection collars: For use on Meerkats, I constructed, tested, attached, and exported data from GPS/accelerometer collars.
- Ultrasounding: Using a portable ultrasound machine, I scanned for pregnancies in Meerkats, occasionally whilst individuals were under anaesthesia but predominantly whilst individuals were unanesthetized.
- Collecting and processing samples: Familiar with collecting DNA, faecal, and morphometric data from reptiles and small mammals. Additional extraction of hormones from faecal samples for fGCM analysis.
- Behavioural and life history observations: Primarily collection of adlib, focal follow, and group level scan data. In addition, regularly recording pregnancy, health and dominance hierarchies, and following their foraging success by regularly collecting body weight data.
- Driving: 2 years experience operating 4x4 vehicles in loose sand, additionally I am capable of completing fundamental maintenance tasks. I hold a current Australian and International Drivers license.