Meet Paul Meek
One of the tasks that I have as a Membership Officer of the Australian Mammal Society is to nominate people who have contributed to Australasian mammal research and conservation and include them as featured members in our AMS website. It is with great pleasure that I introduce our new featured member, Paul Meek, and highlight the wonderful work he has done and is currently doing. I leave you with Paul and best wishes to you all.
Rodrigo Hamede, Membership Officer AMS.
Meet our new featured member, Paul Meek.
Paul trapping Melomys burtonii on Sunday Island, Kimberley.
What is your job?
My current position in NSW Dept Primary Industries has two components; I am a State-wide Invasive Species Officer for vertebrate pest management, primarily focused on the management of wild dogs/dingoes, foxes and feral cats. This position involves a policy role and a research role under the banner of the Vertebrate Pest Research Unit. I also have the task of running training courses for practitioners in vertebrate pest management, predator trapping, and monitoring courses such as camera trapping and sand padding. I am Project Leader for Wild Dog Alert, a research project funded by the Commonwealth, Australian Wool Innovation and Meat and Livestock Australia. This project aims to develop Smart Technology that remotely identifies wild dogs (or foxes and feral cats) from camera trap locations and initiates an early warning system.
Tell us about your history
I was born in Adelaide but the influential parts of growing up were on the Murray River at Blanchetown where I developed my passion for the bush and wildlife. My family were poor and my parents were forced to leave school early to work and support their families. Despite this my Father was driven to learn and encouraged me to work hard and pursue my dreams. I was brought up watching Harry Butler, The Leyland Brothers and Malcom Douglas as they explored our country and introduced me to our amazing wildlife. By the end of primary school I wanted to be a biologist. I followed the tradition of Charles Darwin (I also wasn’t very good at high school, too interested in sport, surfing etc) and didn’t make the grade for University. After a few year of working to earn money and realising I should have worked harder at school, I studied horticulture and picked up a few subjects at night school so I could apply for a mature entry to University. In 1984 I was offered a BAppSc. After graduating I moved to West Aust with the Ag Protection Board before starting a job in Canberra in 1989 with the Bureau of Rural Resources working on feral pigs. In 1990 I moved to Jervis Bay studying parasites of community dogs and then started a Masters on foxes, free roaming dogs and cats in Booderee NP. In 1993-4 together with Nick Dexter I started the fox control program on Beecroft Peninsula that has since spread to Booderee where we recently reintroduced Potoroo. In 1995 I was appointed Natural Resources Manager on Christmas Island, a life changing role. Between 1999-2006 I was the Ecologist for State Forests in Coffs Harbour, thereafter ran a Bell Miner Dieback Project, I was Ecologist for NSW NPWS. In 2011 I was granted a Churchill Fellowship to study camera traps. From 2012 to the present I have been part of the wild canid demonstration project in NSW.
What interesting research/projects have you worked on?
I have worked on many interesting research projects in my career but to pick a hand full of most significant ones, I would say
1. Booderee and Beecroft Peninsula vertebrate pest management programs, both projects have led to a long term dramatic reduction in fox abundance, recently Potoroos were introduced to Booderee and plans are underway for other species in the future.
2. Studying coastal foxes, free roaming dogs and domestic cats in Jervis Bay.
3. Eradicating black rats from Bowen Island.
4. Determining if the Christmas Island shrew was extant.
5. Studying the ecology of the Hastings River Mouse and the role of disturbance in its life history.
6. The interactions between wild dogs, foxes and feral cats in NSW.
7. Refining the use of camera trapping in monitoring and research.
A dingo playing an April Fool’s Day trick on Paul during a trapping research project in the desert.
What are your current projects?
1. Wild Dog Alert, including the integration of camera trapping and smart technology
2. Refinement of camera trapping as a survey tool
3. The interactions between wild dogs, foxes and feral cats in NSW
4. Peri urban predators in the Coffs Coast and their interactions
5. Refinement of a humane lethal trap device for predator trapping
What do you consider are some of your best achievements?
· In 1987 I ran an under-graduate rabbit eradication program on Torrens Island in South Australia that was subsequently continued by another student, we successfully eradicated the population that was devastating the coastal habitat.
· I instigated a program that successfully eradicated black rats Bowen Island, Jervis Bay, the island remains rat free.
· My research on coastal foxes, free roaming dogs and cats in Jervis Bay NP led to the implementation of two fox removal programs that have continued till this day. Recently potoroos were reintroduced.
· On Christmas Island I conducted the first scientific investigation on the shrew, instigated the reptile surveys and Pipistrelle bat surveys that led to the realisation that these species were at risk. A pinnacle moment was sitting with Harold Cogger, Ross Sadlier and Lindy Lumsden at a Chinese restaurant at Poon Saan when we all realised that our sites were inundated with ants; this point in time was the first scientific detection of yellow crazy ants on the Island that subsequently led to further surveys and a long term project to eradicate ants from CI.
· Unravelling some of the apparent mysteries of the ecology of the Hastings River Mouse, with minimal funds and time, my ecology team radio tracked, spool tracked and assessed vegetation and responses to disturbance. This research helped change the perceived belief that the species did not benefit from disturbance.
· Together with our research team over the last 6 years I have endeavoured to research how camera traps work and how they are used in research and monitoring so that we practitioners can optimise their use in science and management. In 2012 we held the first ever camera trapping conference that resulted in the publishing of a book that aims to disseminate contemporary knowledge, and I have been able to share the knowledge we have gleaned across Australia in camera trap training courses for practitioners.
Fitting a radio collar to a wild dog in the Coffs Coast Peri Urban Predator project
What is your favourite activity in mammalogy?
Putting in a big effort to trap and radio collar lots of predators to look at interactions between sympatric wild dogs/dingoes, foxes and feral cats, getting GPS fixes on their locations and then retrieving a collar and seeing the points on a map.
Do you have an interesting “mammal anecdote”
In 2004, my wife and I went to Costa Rica to see the wildlife, on a walk in Corcovado NP my wife noticed two white tips on an animal laying down. We cautiously but ignorantly approached the animal then realised it was a Baird’s Tapir. We were so excited and walked even closer to get some photos. The animal was in a deep rest and seemed unconcerned by our presence. Years later a colleague posted a message asking for images of Baird’s, I sent one to him and upon discovering what we had done, he told me that many people are killed by approaching tapir and we were extremely lucky we were not attacked.
When I was doing my Masters radio tracking foxes in the middle of the night at Jervis Bay, unbeknown to me the nearby Navy Base was conducting night manoeuvres. I was walking around the bush with ear phones on (in those days we had to work HARD for our VHF data) and a head lamp, all of a sudden like a scene from Mr Bean, this bright light lit up the whole area. I realised I had attracted the interest of a helicopter; they were scanning the area trying to find me so I turned off my lamp and ran to a nearby tree and hid. The spotlight went off. So I ran to another tree and BOOM on came the spotlight again, at this point I realised that I could have a little fun, so I waited until they turned it off and ran to another tree with my lamp on, BOOM, on came the light again, I hid with lamp turned off. When I pulled my ear phones off I heard very quiet wave splashing on the beach beside me and realised they had sent in a ground crew. At this point I realised it could get serious very quickly so I ran to my car and drove off. In the morning the people who live in the village were all complaining about the helicopters, lights and shenanigans on the beach – I quietly slipped home to bed.
Setting up a camera trap to detect dingoes in the Cooper basin, SA
What advice do you have for people interested in Australasian mammalogy?
Persistence pays off, research can be very challenging, when you hit a brick wall, find a way around it because in most cases the answers are not easily obtained.
In this current world of smart technology, don’t forget you need to understand the animal you are studying, do the hard yards, spend lots of time at your site at all times of day and night and weather conditions. Time on the ground makes all the difference; good mammal science can’t be done without feeling the site and the species.
If you really want to understand your species, think like your species.
Let the data speak for itself; don’t let preconceived ideas influence your interpretation.
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Topa Petit
3264 days ago
Thanks Paul and Rodrigo for this interesting interview. Paul, next time you are in SA, please come and tell my students that mammal research is not done by texting!