Location: 304 Environment Centre Wales

Tel: 01248 382318

Website: www.wildliferesearch.co.uk

My research and teaching centres on the fields of animal behaviour, ecology and conservation, with particular focus on the effects of human activities on wildlife, animal cognition and the behavioural ecology of large herbivores. I have studied African elephants over the past two decades, addressing questions on foraging and movement ecology as well as investigating the detailed social and ecological knowledge of elephant family groups and the role of the matriarch. The research that I have conducted on elephant cognition has involved extensive use of acoustic playbacks, whereby animal vocalisations are broadcast to study the responses of elephants to social and ecological threats. More recently, I have applied these playback techniques to understand the effects of anthropogenic noise - a growing source of environmental disturbance - on animal behavior and wildlife ecology. I am also interested in the role that large herbivores play in ecosystem function and structure in natural and human altered habitats. This has led to the development of a project exploring fallow deer behaviour and habitat utilisation in the Elwy Valley, North Wales.

Module organiser

• Behavioural Ecology (BSX2018) - second year
• Practical Skills 2 (BSX1031) - first year

Module contributor

• Advances in Behaviour (BNS3004) - third year
• Bioscience skills (BSX2021) - second year
• Invertebrates (BSX2017) - second year

I supervise third (BSX3070) and fourth year (BSM4000) undergraduate project students with a focus on topics in animal behaviour, ecology and conservation.

Postgraduate research students

Rhea Burton-Roberts (PhD) - Exploring how resource availability affects elephant movement across spatiotemporal scales

Owain Barton (PhD KESS II) -Environmental and human drivers of fallow deer movement and habitat use: Implications for disease and natural resource management

Amy Gresham (PhD Envision) - Quantifying the effects of fallow deer (Dama dama) on woodland structure in a human-altered landscape

Jenny Amphaeris (PhD) - Reconceptualising past models which portray language as a phenomenon distinct from communication across species

Bethan Pugh (MSc-Res KESS II) - Mink in Welsh waterways: The efficacy of invasive species control

Ellie Roylance-Casson (Msc-Res) - The Drivers of Sexual Dimorphism in Ungulates: Do Ungulates Follow Rensch’s Rule?

Alex Harcourt (Msc-Res) - Exploring the effects of artificial light at night on amphibian emergence behaviour

Jess Baggott (Msc-Res) - The effects of anthropogenic noise on foraging and vigilance in songbirds