Council Executive

President:  Dr Peter Banks is a senior lecturer in Zoology at the University of NSW. He has a BSc and PhD from University of Sydney. He did a post doc in Finland looking at the impacts of feral mink on small mammal populations in the Baltic Sea and has worked at NPWS coordinating fauna surveys for large scale conservation planning. Peter's research interests are in the population and behavioural ecology of mammals, especially the impacts of predation. Recent projects in his research group include the consequences of predator odours on mammal behaviour, sex ratio biases in feral mouse dynamics and the conservation biology of endangered bandicoots.  

Junior Vice President: Will Miekle  Will Meikle is General Manager, Life Sciences of the Zoological Parks Board of NSW. He completed his M.Sc at the University of Sydney in 1986 on the gastrointestinal physiology of feral pigs. His initial employment was in veterinary research and subsequently clinical organ transplantation before commencing employment at the Zoological Parks Board as Registrar, Exhibited Animals Protection Act to develop and implement the legislation for the keeping of animals in zoos and circuses in NSW. Later he was employed as Curator at Taronga Zoo. He is interested in furthering the changing role of the Zoo to increase contributions to education, conservation and research. His personal interest is herpetofauna.  

Honorary Treasurer Dr Martin Predavec

Honorary Secretary, Dr. Peggy Eby is a Consultant Wildlife Ecologist.  Her primary research interests are the behavioural ecology and conservation biology of Australia’s flying foxes, particularly bat-plant interactions, migration and social structure.  Recent research projects investigate seasonal patterns of distribution, habitat requirements, roost structure, dynamics of mixed sex groups and conservation genetics.  She advises government agencies, NGOs and industry groups on flying fox conservation and management, is the author of a management plan for flying foxes for N.S.W. NPWS, and coordinates range-wide biannual surveys of Grey-headed flying foxes

Executive Officer: Margaret Knorr

Editor  Dr Dan Lunney has been on the council of the RZS since 1981and has enjoyed the many activities of the RZS, which cross taxa, ecosystems and take a long-term scientifically-based view of conservation. He shares an interest in public forums and publications of the RZS that communicate to a wide spectrum of scientists and conservation groups. His working day is spent as a principal research scientist at NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, with a special interest in populations of forest fauna and the impacts of fire, logging and land clearing.   

Councillors  

Prof.  Shelley Burgin is  a member of the Centre for Integrated Catchment Management at the University of Western Sydney.  She has research interests in Biodiversity,  Conservation ecology, Ecosystems management, Herpetology, and Total Catchment management.  A Fellow of the RZS, she has long-standing commitment to conservation of the environment through education. 

Dr Dieter Hochuli is a member of the Institute of Wildlife Research and lecturer in ecology at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney.   Work in his research group focuses on terrestrial invertebrates and their ecology, centered on insect-plant interactions, community ecology and conservation biology.  Recent work investigates the ecology of urbanisation, including work considering the ecology of Sydney’s harbour remnants, dieback of eucalypts in these remnants and how regeneration and restoration efforts in these areas can be assessed.  For more information on Dieter's work visit http://www.bio.usyd.edu.au/staff/hochuli/hochuli.htm

Dr Brad Law specialises in the ecology of bats. He is a Senior Research Scientist at State Forests of NSW, with much of his research time being devoted to delving into the disturbance ecology of forests, such as how logging and fire impact on bat species. Part of this work involves revealing the habitat requirements of particular species, especially threatened bats. Recent work has focused on Fishing bats and Golden-tipped Bats, both of which are species with somewhat unusual habitats (roosting in bird nests by the latter and trawling the surface of waterways with large feet by the former). Brad also has a strong interest in the relationship between fauna and the flowering patterns of Australian trees. He has a current project that will be investigating the influence of tree age on nectar production in Spotted Gums and Grey Ironbarks in forests of the south coast.  

Dr Adam Munn

Nelika Hughes

Assoc. Prof. Noel Tait graduated from the University of Sydney in 1960 and gained his PhD at the Australian National University, Canberra, before joining the staff of the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University in 1969. His research has ranged widely across the biology of many invertebrate groups from cnidarians to tunicates. Professor Tait’s major focus is currently on the biology of onychophorans. This group of elegant animals, commonly referred to as peripatus or velvet worms, is of considerable evolutionary significance, as they are believed to be the evolutionary origin of the arthropods, the largest group of animals on Earth today.  His interest in this group is largely on their reproductive biology. He and his colleagues are using molecular technologies to analyse aspects of the reproductive biology, population structure and speciation of onychophorans in Australia. Through his teaching, Professor Tait’s main goal is to increase the community’s awareness of the intrinsic interest of invertebrates and their importance in conservation issues.  www.mq.edu.au 

Dr Arthur White is an Environmental Consultant and director of Biosphere Environmental Consultant. This company specialises in flora and fauna studies and has particular expertise with endangered reptiles and frogs. Dr White is also a Research Associate of the Australian Museum and is involved in several research projects in frog and reptile biology and conservation. Dr White is also the president of the Frog and Tadpole Study Group of NSW, the largest community-based herpetological group in Australia.