My research speciality is the ecology of invasive mustelids and rodents. Management of these serious conservation pests is a very high priority in New Zealand, but before we can control any population artificially we need to know what controls it naturally. My work aims to research the background information needed by conservation managers to formulate effective control strategies. Until I retired from teaching in 2018 I relished the chance to prepare future generations of managers by running third-year level courses in pest ecology and advanced zoology. I still continue this work by writing books and and contract reports, and visiting local conservation groups to encourage their tireless labours.

I have maintained an almost continuous publication record in these subjects, producing one or more professional papers every year since 1973 except when family responsibilities took priority (ie, in all but 7 of the last 50 years). This record is rather underestimated by the graph below! A complete lifetime list of publications is uploaded on my Linkedin and Researchgate pages.

I edited academic journals for the Royal Society of New Zealand from 1983 to 2009, and was Senior Editor of The New Zealand Journal of Zoology from January 2010 to December 2015.