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Melissa Houghton is an Entomologist at Biosecurity Tasmania. How she arrived at this position is unconventional. Passionate about conservation, she was involved in island mammal eradications around Tasmania, including on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Following the eradication success there, she turned her sights to invertebrates, spending years surveying the island, mapping communities, and identifying high-risk exotic invertebrate introductions and pathways. In her current role she protects Tasmania’s primary industries and environment though biosecurity surveillance, and co-curates the Tasmanian Agricultural Insect Collection. To compensate for numerous invertebrate lives lost during her work, she dreams of becoming a champion for invertebrate habitat conservation. |