Research interests

• Repellents for vertebrate pests using predator scents
• Vertebrate pest management
• Animal behaviour
  

Background

Tarnya Cox is a research officer with the Vertebrate Pest Research Unit in the NSW Department of Primary Industries.  

Tarnya joined the VPRU in 2010 as part of the RHD-boost project team which aims to improve biological control of the introduced European rabbit. Her role is to develop a monitoring and release strategy for new virus strains, to collect rabbit population information from across Australia and to assist in the development of a decision framework for the release of new biological control agents for rabbits.

Tarnya has participated in research projects on a variety of species including flying foxes and rodents in northern Queensland, mice in South Australia, grey squirrels in the UK and rodents in Cambodia.  

Tarnya’s previous research has included indentifying prey species of owl through bone fragments, the role of flying foxes in the transmission of Leptospirosis, and the use of predator scents to deter vertebrate pests from palatable feed.

Qualifications

• Assoc.Dip (Wilderness Reserves and Wildlife) – University of Qld 1997 
• B.App.Sc. (Wildlife Biology)(Hons) – University of Qld 2003
• PhD Wildlife Ecology and Management – University of Qld 2010
  

Current projects

• RHD-boost for improved rabbit management 
• Predator odour repellent research
  

Recent publications

Cox TE, Murray PJ, Hall GP and Li, X (2010) Pest responses to odors from predators fed a diet of target species conspecifics and heterospecifics. Journal of Wildlife Management 74(8): 1737–1744.

Cox TE, Smythe LD and Leung LK-P (2005) Flying foxes as carriers of pathogenic Leptospira species. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 41:753–757

Fields of Research

• 050103 Invasive Species Ecology
• 060201 Behavioural Ecology
• 060801 Animal Behaviour
• 060399 Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified
  

Australian Bureau of Statistics classifications

Keyword/phrase list of research interests

• Vertebrate pests
• Animal behaviour
• Wildlife biology
• Environmental management