Pat Nuttall laboratory reagent, a result that was published in "Nature" in 1977. She then worked with ornithologist Chris Perrins trying to identify the virus responsible for puffinosis, a disease that affects the Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus") sea bird. During this research, Nuttall visited sea-bird colonies and became interested in ticks, arthropods that often infest sea birds as well as other vertebrates, and can act as vectors for disease. In the early 1980s, Nuttall started to study viruses transmitted by ticks, initially focusing on orbiviruses, nairoviruses and thogotoviruses. While performing experiments designed to explore whether "Thogoto virus", an influenza-like virus, can be
Cape Byron Marine Park identifies the migratory little tern "(Sterna albifrons)" and the Beach stone-curlew "(Esacus neglectus)" as endangered. Seabirds that utilize the Cape Byron Marine Park are the providence pretal "(Pterodroma solandri)", flesh-footed shearwater "(Puffinus carneipes)", and the masked booby "(Sula dactylatra)" which are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Although no invertebrates have been identified as endangered or vulnerable, it is important to acknowledge that there are a plethora of invertebrates within the Cape Byron Marine Park which are critical to the health of the local ecosystems. These include a variety of molluscs such as the gold ring cowries