Passing the baton on sleepy lizard research

A driving force behind a 35 year sleepy lizard study, Flinders University’s Biodiversity and Ecology Professor Mike Bull passed away suddenly in 2017. Two years on we now have a new generation of researchers continuing Professor Bull’s important work.

Led by Flinders’ Associate Professor Mike Gardner in collaboration with the University of California, the Flinders sleepy lizard survey has been able to continue with the appointment of researcher Dr Jess Clayton, who completed her PhD under Professor Bull’s supervision.

During her first season in the field, Dr Clayton quickly learnt the ropes and captured 250 lizards. She collected valuable data for the long-term dataset along with additional data that will allow the team to develop new understanding on the ecology of lizards and their parasitic ticks.

Flinders PhD student Gerrut Norval is supporting the study through the investigation of the range of parasites that sleepy lizards host and how these differ across the ecological gradient. Along with the usual suspects, Gerrut has discovered a previously unresearched tick species on some lizards.

The team also includes Flinders PhD student Robbie O’Reilly who is researching whether lizards in South Australia have been exposed to the Bobtail Flu, and honours students, Molly Stuart and Bridgette Barnden. Next year Mike Bull’s son Simon will continue his father’s legacy by beginning a PhD to investigate the boundary between the two main tick species affecting sleepy lizards.

“Along with gathering new data, we have had some fantastic support from the Flinders University Library who are currently digitising our entire dataset,” says Dr Jess Clayton. “This will provide us with a backup of the existing dataset of over 55,000 lizard records collected by Professor Mike Bull and Dale Burzacott.”

The team also plan to share their digitised data with other researchers and create more collaborative research partnerships to continue Professor Mike Bull’s work into the future.

The longest-running lizard survey in the southern hemisphere costs $50,000 each year. We rely on the generous support of the community and those committed to conservation to support this important work.

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