MDC vlunteers are clever cookies!

Sarah.S. hasn't made it into the MDC for a little while... Why? Too busy snorkeling? Diving? Exploring Victoria's magical marine world? NO, it's all because of some little reptiles known as skinks!



Sarah holding one of her new found friends



Sarah has been busy finishing off her (Bachelor of Science with) Honours project at Monash University. Her project was to study the...

Influence of social and exploratory behaviour on introduction success: A comparison of two sympatric skinks, Lampropholis delicata and Lampropholis guichenoti.

In plain English... 

This project involved two species of skink, the Delicate skink (Lampropholis delicata) and the Garden skink (Lampropholis guichenoti). Both species are native to Australia and are common along the south east coast of Victoria. The delicate skink is very interesting as it is the only Australian reptile to establish breeding populations outside its native range. By effectively hitchhiking, that is catching a ride in ship, aeroplane and/or truck cargo, the delicate skink has successfully invaded Lord Howe Island, Hawaii and New Zealand. 



Lampropholis delicata - check out the rainbow reflection... wowee!



Sarah shares with us a bit of her inspiring academic news...

My project was designed to compare the social and exploratory behaviour of the delicate skink (invasive) to the Garden skink (non-invasive). I chose these particular behaviours as they are likely to influence the chances of hitchhiking. For example, being more exploratory might mean a species will come into contact with cargo more frequently which may increase its chances of getting into and out of overseas transport.

I found that the delicate skink had the same social tendencies as the garden skink. This was expected. Surprisingly, there was a strong difference in exploratory behaviour, where the delicate skink was more exploratory than the garden skink. Could this mean that this behavioural trait is linked to the delicate skink’s invasion success? More studies need to be conducted, but it is a very exciting prospect and one that my supervisor continues to research.    

Lampropholis guichenoti - the "poster child"

I had a fantastic time doing this project. Although, it was not just about the research and writing, I also had to do several presentations to large peer and supervisor groups in order to demonstrate my progress in the project. I must say that having completed my cert. 3 in tourism at the MDC the year before really helped me in this area. This meant that I had already had experience talking to large diverse groups and found I could draw on this experience when I was interpreting my project results for the members of the school of biological science, Monash. The skills learnt at the MDC are truly priceless and highly transferable but most importantly, the people I learnt them from were energetic, knowledgeable, caring and simply inspiring. Qualities that made my experience into something I’ll never forget. 

Completing my honours was hard work but I have learnt so much from my experience, and look forward to furthering my skills in the workforce.   

- Sarah.S.

Thanks for the inspiration Sarah!

Delicate little explorers

Sarah received a H1 (High distinction/ A+ equivalent)result for her project making her another MDC volunteer clever cookie! J