Dr Kate Dutton-Regester

I am a wildlife scientist specialising in wildlife ecology and conservation, veterinary epidemiology, and invasive species ecology. My research integrates field ecology, physiology, citizen science, spatial analysis, and One Health principles to address urgent conservation and biosecurity challenges affecting Australian wildlife. I work across the interfaces of wildlife, people, and environmental change, with a focus on generating ecological baselines, identifying emerging threats, and improving environmental health surveillance systems.

Since completing my PhD in 2023, I have developed a cross-cutting, applied research program centred on three interconnected themes:

• Echidna ecology and conservation I lead the Echidna Conservation: Building a Baseline program, which addresses long-standing data gaps for the short-beaked echidna—an iconic but understudied monotreme. Through camera trapping, community-led field monitoring, eDNA pilot studies, and collaboration with >10 local councils and community groups, this program is generating the first regional-scale ecological dataset for echidnas in Southeast Queensland. More than 30 trained citizen scientists now contribute annual monitoring data, and my team includes a PhD candidate and multiple Honours and Masters students investigating habitat use, seasonality, thermal ecology, and population indicators.

This program is now expanding internationally through research on the PNG long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni), in collaboration with Port Moresby Nature Park and the University of Papua New Guinea, supporting broader comparative conservation outcomes for monotremes across Australasia.

• Invasive species impacts on native wildlife I am leading the first empirical Australian research program investigating how the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) affects native wildlife behaviour, abundance, and stress physiology. This work combines spatial ecology, field experiments, and wildlife monitoring to quantify impacts and inform evidence-based biosecurity policy. The program is conducted in close partnership with the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, the Invasive Species Council, local governments, and industry collaborators, supported by competitive and institutional funding. It is designed to scale into a Queensland- and Australia-wide research framework.

• Wildlife health surveillance and environmental indicators I also lead a national program that analyses long-term wildlife hospital admissions to identify spatial and temporal patterns in threats, human–wildlife conflict, and environmental change. Working with more than 10 wildlife hospitals across Australia—including RSPCA Queensland, WA Wildlife, Phillip Island Nature Parks, and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital—my team is developing standardised metrics and models for using admissions data as an ecological early-warning system.

Across all three research themes, I collaborate closely with local councils, state and federal agencies, NGOs, and community organisations. Key partners include the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, Invasive Species Council, Wildlife Queensland, Wildlife Health Australia, Australia Zoo, RSPCA, and multiple Southeast Queensland councils, as well as international partners in Papua New Guinea.

I collaborate closely with Wildlfie Queensland, managing their EchidnaWatch platform.

Also see the website of Echidna Conservation for our research, members and latest publications.

I am also an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science.

- My presentation on Echidna Conservation - Building a Baseline can be viewed here - CBCS Echidna Talk

BioDB Honorary patron for Short- and Long- Beaked echidna