May 13, 2013 in Publications
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
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!
April 12, 2012 in Publications
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% of their campaigns only raised funds for that species itself, the study found. These flagship species tend to have a high body mass and forward-facing eyes – because people find large animals with a human-like face more appealing. But, by using a similarity score approach, the a team led by Dr. Bob Smith identified that there are other species which, like Cinderella in the children’s story, share this aesthetic appeal but are currently overlooked.
You can find my latest publication at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00229.x/abstract
Full press release: http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/homepagestories/mammalspeciespromotingconsevationfunding/2011
January 2, 2012 in Publications
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 article “The giant squid Architeuthis: An emblematic invertebrate that can represent concern for the conservation of marine biodiversity” published in July also in Biological Conservation
January 2, 2012 in Publications
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 lizard.
