Dr Matthew McKinney

PhD Student: Spatiotemporal interactions between invasive and native bird species in Australia

I received my bachelor’s degree in forest resources from the University of Georgia in 2006, and my master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries science from Mississippi State University in 2013. Between those degrees, I worked as a public lands biologist/land manager for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, conserving and managing endangered ecosystems, endangered species, game species and everything in-between. I came to Brisbane in 2013 to live with my wife and (now) son, and I began working for Salit later that year. My strengths are GIS, the R Statistical Environment, and technical management/research skills (fire, farm equipment, surveys). My PhD will focus on modelling invasive bird species interactions, and using that information to build multi-species dynamic occupancy models to inform prioritisation of actions.