University of Tasmania, Australia

Josephine Potter

PhD Candidate

BSc (Hons)

Contact Details

Achievements

Josephine Potter is a PhD Candidate at the School of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania. Jo commenced her doctoral studies in March 2011 after previously receiving 1^st Class Honours at UTAS for a thesis entitled "The role of lizards in the pollination and seed dispersal of Tasmanian plants" in 2001.

Since finishing her science degree Jo has spent several years working as a Bushwalking Guide with Cradle Huts, as a Summer Ranger with the Parks and Wildlife Service, and as a Natural Values Assessment Officer with the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.

Jo's doctoral project is on the conservation of the threatened Ptunarra brown butterfly (Oreixenica ptunarra) which is a small orange-brown butterfly that lives in highland Poa grasslands in Tasmania. It is listed as vulnerable under the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 primarily due to habitat loss through land clearing, fragmentation of habitat, incorrect fire and grazing regimes and more recently predation by European wasps (Vespula germanica). This decline in Ptunarra brown butterfly numbers and the inability of the butterflies to recolonise areas from which they have disappeared is of concern as it may lead to the eventual extinction of the species.

Jo's project is focusing on counting populations of Ptunarra brown butterflies along fixed transects over time, controlling numbers of predators such as the European wasp, translocating the species within its historic range, determining the frequency of fire required to keep the habitat at its optimum, and undertaking a statewide survey to determine the current range of the species compared to the last statewide survey from over 10 years ago.

Jo also works part-time for DPIPWE who provide in-kind support for her project.