Animal Behaviour Associate: René van Dijk
René’s research is focused on the diversity of reproductive strategies among birds and the evolutionary implications arising from these behaviours. He has worked extensively on the Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus and is investigating how the unusually diverse breeding system of this species affects morphology and behaviour, and how parents decide over parental care. René is currently collaborating with ERT in a conference on sexual selection.
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Spatial Ecology Associate: Peter Long
Peter is a spatial ecologists with a particular interest in the conservation application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the analysis of satellite imagery. His current research will provide an understanding of the process that have given rise to the distribution of endemic wetland birds in Madagascar, explore wetland change in the recent past, and model future scenarios of wetland biodiversity. This work uses a combination of landscape genetics and GIS. He has worked for many years with ERT’s Director with whom he is planning a Darwin Initiative project in the Cusuco National Park in the highlands of western Honduras. |
AFRICA ASSOCIATE: Alfred Owino
Alfred studied Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town and Wildlife Management at Moi University in Kenya. He then worked for his PhD at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. He has a wide range of experience in the tropical environment, and has been involved in biodiversity research training, species monitoring, analysis of long-term monitoring datasets, project development and the logistics and co-ordination of environmental programmes. He sits on a range of national committees involved in biodiversity and environmental issues, and is an affiliate of a number of African professional conservation bodies. |
SOUTH AMERICA ASSOCIATE: Jorge Enrique Parra
Jorge’s research interests is currently focused on the ecology, behaviour and conservation of birds. He has studied the selection of display territories and sociability in leks of the Golden-head Manakin in the Amazon rain forest of Colombia and the acoustic adaptation hypothesis to explain the song variation of Eastern Meadowlark across altitudinal gradients in the Orinoquian region of Colombia. He was also involved in rapid ecological assessments of Colombian biodiversity with the ‘Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt’. That study involved the use of bioacoustic tools to asses the diversity of birds in priority areas for conservation in Colombia. Since 2003, he has been working in a conservation project on the dry valleys of the Chicamocha canyon in Colombia. Project Chicamocha is an initiative to promote the conservation of the critically endangered Niceforo’s Wren and the endangered Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird. This long term work has produced the establishment of the first dry forest protected area in the Chicamocha canyon, the knowledge of the ecological requirements of the both species of birds, and the awareness of the local community of their biodiversity. He is currently studying shorebird social ecology using phylogenetic comparative methods, and the impact of population sex ratio on sexual conflict. |
NORTH AMERICA ASSOCIATE: Marc Edwards
Marc is currently working with Greg Henry (University of British Columbia, Canada), on the effects of climate change on Arctic Tundra ecosystems. His work focuses on the role of ecosystem heterogeneity in a polar oasis on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The research will quantify variations in plant community productivity across the landscape in control and experimentally warmed plots at a range of spatial scales. Data are being analysed using a combination of statistical, GIS and spectral software. The research aims to support conservation actions by providing a case study on local and regional variation in productivity. Marc previously worked with ERT’s Director (Mark O’Connell) on a project for BirdLife International, commissioned by Conservation International. The research involved collating data on the ranges of threatened reptiles and amphibians in the Caribbean, and combining these with environmental data to test ecological hypothesis in relation to landscape and life history drivers of distribution and status. The collated Herptile range data were later used by Bird Life International to consider changes to protected area networks. Marc previously studied Mountain Hare with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and produced a species-habitat model in GIS. Marc has also been involved in a wide range of projects conducting mammal, bird and floral diversity surveys. He is a keen climber and heads for the mountains when time allows. |
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