vthomson1

I am a young researcher interested in how species can adapt to future climate change using naturally occurring variation. In Australia, I also work on the echidna, emu, brush-tailed possum, malleefowl, grey kangaroo, ghost bat, and many species of native mice.

I have worked on a diverse set of projects in my short research history. I have discovered a unique group of chickens brought into Oceania by the early Polynesians when they originally colonised the Pacific Islands. Using these archaeological chicken bones (and ancient DNA techniques) I have reconstructed the migration route of these early Polynesians. I have also located the Indonesian island where the Pacific rat lived prior to being introduced through-out the Pacific by early Polynesians, and driving many native birds extinct.

September 2016