Erica Todd is proud and excited about her recent academic success, gaining a University Medal and 2 scholarships on the basis of her studies so far.

The turtle researcher and conservation volunteer was the University Medallist for this week's Rockhampton Graduation, where she also received The Chancellor Stan Jones Scholarship valued at $2000, presented by the former CQUniversity Chancellor himself.

University Medallist Erica Todd

Based on her CQUniversity success at undergraduate and Honours levels, Erica has recently been accepted as a PhD candidate (to focus on endemic freshwater turtles) at James Cook University and has won a Smart Futures PhD scholarship from the State Government valued at $22,500 over 3 years.

Erica spent several vacations during her undergraduate years as a volunteer in marine turtle research but last year turned her attention to the threatened freshwater turtle Elseya albagula, endemic to the Burnett, Mary and Fitzroy Rivers.

Her Honours project investigated multiple paternity within clutches of this species using several DNA fingerprinting techniques. 

Erica's Honours year supervisor Dr Bob Newby said the project was a great example of cross-institutional co-operation.  The project was supported financially by a research grant from the Queensland Turtle Research group within the Environmental Protection Agency; the molecular analysis was done by Erica at the Molecular Ecology and Evolution Laboratory at James Cook University, while some of the DNA fragments were analysed by the Australian Genome Research Facility of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

Understanding paternity patterns is important for the management of this threatened species as these influence population demography and genetic diversity.

Plenty to like about graduation night

Although multiple paternity could not be evaluated in the Burnett population because of very low genetic variability, the more diverse Fitzroy River populations are good candidates for future study.  Using computer modelling, Erica was able to estimate the probability of detecting multiple paternity in each river system.

"Although our scientific knowledge of Australian freshwater turtles is growing, there is still much to learn with many exciting avenues for research," Erica said.

"Existing and planned water infrastructure developments threaten the existence of our freshwater turtles, and to effectively conserve them we must first understand them."