Conservation outreach and the Spix’s macaw

May 18, 2013 in Publications

salvar-ararinha1

The “Projeto Ararinha na Natureza” led by SAVE Brasil, launched the first annual report of the conservation outreach activities it is undertaking with the aim of preparing a future reintroduction of the iconic Spix’s Macaw. The species is currently ”extinct in the wild” although a number of institutions have been collaboration to return this species to its natural habitat. It has been a great pleasure to have been involved in the evaluation strategy of the project and I look forward for the next year

You can find the report here (in Portuguese)

Tags: , , , , , ,
No Comments »

First record of the speckled forest-pitviper for the state of Acre, Brazil

May 13, 2013 in Publications

Figure-2

In another natural history short note me and a few colleagues document the finding of an adult specimen of Bothrops taeniatus Wagler, 1824 in the Municipality of Assis Brasil, in the  Rio Acre Ecological Station, Acre, Brazil. This is the first record of this species for the state of Acre, extending the species distribution globally by approximately 164 Km west.

Find the full article here

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Environmental education in São Tomé

April 10, 2013 in Publications

Last November I went out to work on a Environmental Education project lead with Ricardo Lima, in the small island country of São Tomé and Príncipe in West Africa. We visited hundreds of people in rural communities and dozens of classrooms across the country in an experience that undoubtedly made us realise how important these activities are and how they should be kept up (and improved on) in the future. Read all about our findings in the final report which has just been published. Get it  here!

Cover-ST-Report

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comments Off

First record of the Bicoloured-spined Porcupine for Brazil

March 5, 2013 in Publications

A few days ago I co-author a short note that presents the first record of the Bicoloured-spined Porcupine for Brazil. Its not often that a mammal of this size is first recorded for a country, even one as large and biodiverse as Brazil! Checkout the short note here.

Figure-3c

 

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments Off

Is biotechnology the answer to extinction? No.

January 31, 2013 in Publications

In the latest issue of Nature, I co-author a reply to S. Kumar’s article: “Extinction need not be forever“, published also in Nature about a month ago. In this reply we highlight how  behavioural and ecological factors, which are not necessarily captured by genetic material, are essential not only to define a species identity but also to ensure its survival in its natural habitat. Read it here - includes a second reply to the same article.

Nature-reply-cartoon

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Off

Wildlife trade in Asia: start with the consumer

January 8, 2013 in Publications

volume1_num2_th

In a recent Editorial I co-authored for the Asian Journal of Conservation Biology we touch on the issue of wildlife trade in Asia and discuss how the consumer must be the central part of our strategies to manage this trade that threatens many species worldwide . Read it here.

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comments Off

Social Marketing visits Lisbon

December 16, 2012 in Uncategorized

Last week I attended the first ever European Social Marketing Conference, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal. Social marketing can be broadly defined as “the systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals for a social good”.

The meeting gathered more than 100 delegates from around 25 countries to discuss the application of social marketing in the European context. Although largely dominated by the health sector I did my best to represent the environmental sector through my presentation “Branding Biodiversity: What environmental conservation can learn from social marketing”. This meeting also saw the launch of theEuropean Social Marketing Association (ESMA), which began shaping itself about a year ago and of which I am a proud founding member. All in all the conference was a great opportunity to learn about what is being done in Europe in terms of social marketing and build networks with some leading academics and practitioners. Plus the food was great.

Tags: , , ,
Comments Off

Little known snake is already endangered

December 2, 2012 in Publications

The snake Bothrops muriciensis is a little known Brazilian viper that until recently was only known from the couple of records that were used to describe it. I paper I co-authored in the open-access North-Western Journal of Zoology presents six more records and looks at applying the IUCN Red List criteria to the species until now classified as Data Deficient. Get it here!

 


Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments Off

Sacred groves in India

November 13, 2012 in Uncategorized

One of the last issues of Human Dimensions of Wildlife has an article on the selection of conservation flagship species, namely birds and trees, for sacred groves (forest areas that are considered to be sacred) in India. This research which took place in the North  Western Ghats region was lead by Yasuo Takahashi and co-authored by me, Douglas MacMillan and Archana Godbole. See the PDF here!

Tags: , ,
Comments Off

Predation published in Herpetological Bulletin

November 13, 2012 in Publications

The latest issue of the Herpetological Bulletin has a natural history note reporting on the predation of a slender anole (Anolis fuscoauratus)  by a northern woodland racer (Drymoluber dichrous) in North-eastern Brazil. This short note was co-authored with Gonçalo Rosa and Marco António Freitas. See the Pdf here

Tags: , , , ,
Comments Off

← Previous Entries