Simon Roach
Qualifications
Bachelor of Science (Wildlife and Marine Biology, Griffith University)
Position
Environmental Science Honours student (Griffith University)
Contact details
School of Environment and Science,
Griffith University, Gold Coast campus,
1 Parklands Dr, Southport, QLD, Australia, 4215
Email: simon.roach"at"griffithuni.edu.au
Overview
I am an environmental science student pursuing an Honours project under the supervision of Dr. Chantal Lanctot and co-supervision of Dr. Laura Grogan, Dr. Clare Morrison and Prof. Hamish McCallum.
I completed my Bachelor of Science degree, double majoring in Wildlife and Marine Biology, in 2021 at Griffith university, Australia. I have also completed an undergraduate capstone research project focusing on the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on aquatic macroinvertebrates. This was useful in providing some insight into how field work is conducted, how to navigate large datasets and how to formulate a clear and coherent research paper. I hope to expand on this knowledge and gain many more useful skills through my future honours research.
Research Overview
The aim of my Honours project is to examine the potential effects of chronic exposure to fire-fighting chemicals on a model native species, the striped marsh frog (Limnodynastes peronii). This project will involve chronically exposing captively-reared individually-housed tadpoles to environmentally relevant concentrations of PHOS-CHeK, a common fire-fighting formulation. I hope to gain a better understanding of how these chemicals effect the behaviour and physiology of the species and its’ community ecology in the wild.
Career Goals
Upon completing my Honours project, I hope to have gained some relevant skills in conducting field-work, lab-work, report writing, statistical analysis and working in professional collaboration with my supervisors. With these skills I aim to continue my environmental science career by either pursuing further academic studies (PhD)
or a more hands-on approach in working within a wildlife sanctuary where I have some volunteer experience already. I hope that my efforts carry some weight for restoring our fleeting natural habitats and endangered animal populations.
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