|
Email FFNFF
|
Matthew
Shaw is an
aspiring Parasitologist who works in the Inquiry Centre, Queensland Museum,
Brisbane. He is studying nest-based mites for his PhD at the Department
of Zoology and Entomology, University of Queensland. In late 1998, Matthew
travelled to North Queensland to do some preliminary research on paralysis
ticks. Travel costs to North Queensland were generously paid by the Wildlife
Preservation Society of Queensland. The initial approach to the problem
was to try and get some data on tick abundance by trapping bandicoots with
cage traps and ticks with dry ice (CO2). Matthew became temporarily "feral"
crawling through lantana thickets. At night, tall ladders were climbed up
into the dripping rainforest canopy to inspect possum dens while the residents
were out feeding. The possums' bedding and associated parasites were vacuumed
and removed. Such is the life of a parasitologist! Matthew has found that
there is a lot of work to do on the paralysis tick/Spectacled flying fox
interaction. |
