I am a conservation biologist who uses genomic and environmental data to answer pure and applied research questions in conservation management, ecology and evolution. My work aims to better understand the ecological and evolutionary processes influencing the persistence of animal populations. Much of my work investigates how human activities modify animal dispersal and the consequences of reduced genetic variation. I am particularly interested in whether changes in genetic variation and demography lead to altered social behavior, and in-turn, whether this influences dispersal and gene flow. My group works on a diverse range of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, in a range of environments globally. I enjoy teaching and am the Director of the Masters of Conservation Biology course at Macquarie University, and am Chief Editor of the text book Austral Ark, the state of wildlife in Australia and New Zealand.  I teach the third year subject titled Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics and am currently part of a team revising the text An Introduction to Conservation Genetics and Genomics. 

Key Research Projects

• Evaluating landscape-scale connectivity and localised adaptation of invasive predators and threatened Australian taxa.
• Analysis of genetic variation and genetic load in isolated populations of endangered lizard.
• Application of genomic data to the conservation management of threatened species.
• Measuring the extent to which social interactions influence patterns of dispersal and gene flow at landscape scales.

Website: https://stowlab.wordpress.com/

Qualifications

1998-2004 PhD Macquarie University

1995-1996 Dip.Ed. (Secondary) Charles Sturt University

1990-1992 BSc (Zoology) Sydney University