Don Bradshaw – “The impact of prescribed burning in southwest WA: a Honey Possum’s perspective”

Emeritus Professor Don Bradshaw

Don Bradshaw is an ecophysiologist whose research has been concerned with how vertebrates living in seasonally or permanently arid environments respond to stressors imposed by these inhospitable places and yet continue to reproduce, and thus survive as populations.

An important aspect of his work has been to analyse water deprivation, electrolyte loading, heat stress and the hormonal mechanisms mediating the animals’ responses in the field. The novelty of his approach lies in combining natural history, population ecology and measurements of the circulating levels of hormones mediating responses to environmental challenges. His work on the many endangered marsupials living on Barrow Island and his long-term study of the tiny nectarivorous Honey possum in the extreme southwest of WA have given new insights into the adaptive physiology of the Australian fauna. Since retirement, his focus has been on conservation of the many rare and endangered species in WA’s threatened biodiversity hotspot and the threats posed by frequent fire.