Cameron Baker

Following an interest in nature and biology, Cameron completed a BSc with Honours in ecology at the University of Queensland, where he is now a PhD candidate. Cameron’s honours year explored how ontogenetic shifts in the body size of female estuarine crocodiles Crocodylus porosus influenced their nesting behaviours and movements. Cameron has also previously assisted with other research investigating the social systems of lizards and examining potential mitigation strategies to assist in protecting sea turtle nests from predation.

Research interests

His research focus is primarily on the factors forming and influencing the social dynamics of populations and the development of novel approaches and techniques for examining animal sociality. To do this, he takes an integrative approach combining analyses and techniques from multiple disciplines to leverage unique insights into the sociality and ecology of my study species. For his PhD, Cameron is taking an integrative approach combining techniques from both movement ecology and socioecology to quantify the sociality of estuarine crocodiles Crocodylus porosus, across three different structural levels: spatial structure, social structure, and within dyad relationships. In doing so, he will be able to examine intraspecific variation in the sociality of this non-group living ‘solitary’ species.

Awards and achievements

Best student presentation – Mixed taxa, 9^th World Congress of Herpetology: 2020

Student registration and travel grant, World Congress of Herpetology: 2020

Research Training Program Stipend, Australian Government: 2018 – current

Dean’s Commendation for Academic Excellence: 2016

Presentations

Baker, C.J., Dwyer, R.G., Frère, C. and Franklin, C. E. (2020), Quantifying the social landscape of estuarine crocodiles. 9^thWorld Congress of Herpetology, Dunedin, New Zealand

Baker, C.J., Dwyer, R.G. and Franklin, C. E. (2018), Exploring the social and mating systems of estuarine crocodiles Crocodylus porosus. Joint meeting of the Australian Society of Herpetologists and the Society for Research on Amphibians and Reptiles in New Zealand, Kindilan, Australia

Baker, C.J., Franklin, C.E., Campbell, H.A., Irwin, T.A., and Dwyer, R.G. (2018), Biotelemetry reveals ontogenetic shifts in the nesting behaviour of female crocodiles. Ecological Society of Australia annual conference, Brisbane, Australia

Society affiliations

• International society of behavioural ecologists
• Ecological society of Australia
• Australian Society of Herpetologists
• University of Queensland Herpetological society – President