ABOUT ME
My focus is to understand how habitat change affects the evolution and conservation of animals historically and currently. Specifically my objective is to research wildlife diseases in the context of landscape use, through use of extensive museum resources, innovative analysis of genomic datasets, creating new conservation landscape models in partnership with industry and NGOs, as well as collecting and analyzing data, including in-vitro work from threatened taxa.
I have founded a consultancy business Amaterra Ltd. where I offer my knowledge and skills on conservation projects.
EDUCATION
Current projects
Deal and Protect: sustainable development for remote communities
Working in partnership with local communities and Biofirst-a green holding company, we are working together to make commodities with reduced land impact pay the local farmer. Landowners taking part in active conservation strategies are given access to markets and new business opportunities.
2016
University of Queensland
PhD. Systematics and taxonomy of Tube nosed fruit bats, Nyctimeninae
Effect of stressors on bats in hibernation
The capacity to enter hibernation and/or daily torpor is an adaptive physiological trait that enables survival of climatic extremes and food scarcity. We study bat hibernation physiology and link data on model species with responses to chemical and infectious stressors to achieve an understanding of disease pathogenesis mechanisms in hibernators applicable to conservation and risk assessment and reaching over to biotechnology and biomedicine.
Tube nosed fruit bat (Nyctimeninae) .
I have revised the sub-family taxonomically systematically and ecologically. This sub-family of bats has lots to tell us about the tempo and mode of speciation
Systematics and conservation of Pteropus dasymalus- the most northerly distributed fruit bat
In partnership with researchers from Taiwan and Japan we are reviewing the status of this vulnerable species.
1991-1995
University of Aberdeen
BSc (Hons) Zoology