For many researchers, particularly in academia, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a necessity, with major implications for their career progression. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that the current scientific publishing model is not fair and equitable, which can have severe consequences for the way science is accessed and used in nature conservation. We evaluated the … [Read more…]
A great collaborative project involving more than a dozen conservation social scientists from more than dozen social science fields! Find the Open Acess Paper here! And the abstract below! Despite broad recognition of the value of social sciences and increasingly vocal calls for better engagement with the human element of conservation, the conservation social sciences … [Read more…]
Microplastic has been reported in every major open ocean and many freshwater lakes and rivers. Its small size makes it bioavailable to thousands of species across nearly all trophic levels. Because of the difficulty of large-scale cleanup, environmental managers, scientists, and environmentalists have stressed that the best solution to microplastic pollution is source reduction. Recently, … [Read more…]
Many scientists invest their time peer-reviewing articles without receiving any compensation, besides a metaphorical pat on the back. To try and start tackling this issue me and Dave Roberts, also from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, published a note in Trends in Ecology and Evolution on how we can put peer-reviewing on the map by making it … [Read more…]
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 … [Read more…]
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 … [Read more…]
Images of tigers and elephants are among the most common threatened mammals used by conservation organisations as ‘flagships’ to promote fundraising – but new research led by the University suggests that other threatened ‘Cinderella species’ could prove equally effective. At the moment, only 80 flagship species are used by these NGOs, and more than 60% … [Read more…]
I was the lead author on a correspondence piece entitled “Selecting marine invertebrate flagship species: Widening the net”, published in the lastest issue of Biological Conservation. This piece is a reflection on the selection of conservation flagship species for groups traditionally deemed less charismatic. Read it here! This correspondence piece was a reply to the … [Read more…]
I was a co-author on the paper “Distribution extension of Uracentron flaviceps (Guichenot, 1855) (Reptilia: Squamata): Second record for the state of Acre, Brazil” published in the journal Check List last December. Read it here! This small piece is a interesting contribution to the available knowledge on the natural history of this little know Amazonian … [Read more…]