Dr Gracie Liu

I joined the Australian Museum herpetology team in 2019 as a PhD student, FrogID validator and research assistant. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have led and participated in collaborative field and lab-based research, mostly in the realms of amphibian conservation, ecology, and citizen science, but I have enjoyed dabbling in other topics too.

In my current role as a Scientific Officer, I am investigating the impact of land use on frogs in the Northern Wheatbelt of NSW. My research is focused on filling in data gaps across the region (where frog records are currently lacking), documenting the fine-scale geographic distribution of frogs in the region, examining species diversity patterns, and identifying areas of high conservation value via targeted fieldwork and citizen science, particularly FrogID. I am incredibly excited about using citizen science to increase community understanding and participation in biodiversity monitoring.

My research and background

I grew up in suburban Sydney, sheltered from most of our native wildlife. My parents shared that naivety, unaccustomed to animal encounters other than the occasional huntsman roaming the house. So, when I started taking an interest in animals of the scaly and amphibious kind, it was met with a little bit of shock and then a whole lot of horror when I declared that the scaly kind also included snakes. Australia’s herpetofauna tends to be underappreciated, understudied and, in some cases, unloved, feared and misunderstood. As I learnt about these animals and became aware of their vast diversity, I became more interested and motivated to better understand and conserve them. (My parents are slowly coming around to this too – they no longer recoil when I show them photos of my serpentine finds).

Before joining the herpetology team at the Australian Museum, I completed a Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). During my undergraduate, I forayed briefly into the world of fruit flies before joining the Schwanz lab at UNSW, where I spent countless hours tending to a colony of jacky dragons (Amphibolurus muricatus). Fascinated by this Australian lizard, I spent my Honours researching the link between maternal temperature, offspring traits, and corticosterone (a hormone involved in the stress response, energy regulation and immune function).

I completed my PhD through UNSW and the Australian Museum, where I examined how frogs respond to anthropogenic habitat modification. My research sought to understand why some species decline whilst others persist in human modified environments. My PhD opened my eyes to the power of citizen science in making science accessible, in gathering unprecedented amounts of high-quality scientific data, and driving positive conservation outcomes.

After completing my PhD, I worked as an ecologist and drone pilot with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, focusing on threatened arboreal mammals, but I soon found myself drawn back to herpetology. While I have worked in some beautiful and remote locations across NSW and have listened to over 50,000 FrogID recordings from across the nation, I still feel a childish delight when I hear my backyard frogs calling (which happen to be the three most recorded species in FrogID).

In my time off, I enjoy exploring the outdoors, roaming around at night in search of wildlife, taking mediocre phone photos of said wildlife, documenting what I hear on FrogID, and living vicariously through your FrogID submissions! If you have any questions about my work or research, feel free to reach out.

Qualifications

• PhD, The University of New South Wales and The Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia (2023). The role of behavioural and life-history traits in determining species persistence in highly modified landscapes. Thesis: https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/25078
• Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) (Biological Science) (Hons Class 1, University Medal), The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2017).

Publications

• Liu, G., Kingsford, R. T., Callaghan, C. T., & Rowley, J. J. L. (2022). Anthropogenic habitat modification alters calling phenology of frogs. Global Change Biology, 28(21): 6194-6208. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16367
• Callaghan, C. T., Liu, G., Mitchell, B. A., Poore, A. G., & Rowley, J. J. L. (2021). Urbanization negatively impacts frog diversity at continental, regional, and local scales. Basic and Applied Ecology, 54: 64-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2021.04.003
• Liu, G., Rowley, J. J. L., Kingsford, R. T., & Callaghan, C. T. (2021). Species’ traits drive amphibian tolerance to habitat modification. Global Change Biology, 27(13), 3120-3132 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15623
• Liu, G., Cain, K., & Schwanz, L. (2020). Maternal temperature, corticosterone, and body condition as mediators of maternal effects in jacky dragons (Amphibolurus muricatus). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 93(6): 434-449. https://doi.org/10.1086/711955

Selected Awards, Grants and Scholarships

• Outstanding Three Minute Thesis Presentation – UNSW Postgraduate Research Forum (2021)
• Australian Wildlife Society University Research Grant (2021)
• Best Ecosystem Science Presentation – UNSW Postgraduate Research Forum (2020)
• Ecological Consultants Association of NSW Conservation Grant (2020)
• Outstanding Species Focused Presentation – UNSW Postgraduate Research Forum (2019)
• Oatley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society Research Grant (2019)
• The University Medal for Biology (2017)
• Australasian Evolution Society Conference Student Travel Grant (2017)
• Alton & Neryda Fancourt Chapple Biological Science Honours Award (2017)
• Evolution & Ecology Research Centre Outstanding Ecology (Undergraduate) Student of the Year (2016)
• UNSW Science Achiever Award (2014)