I am a first year DPhil student at the University of Oxford in Kathy Willis' lab. I am most interested in research applicable to conservation management that incorporates field work and natural history documentation in undersampled and threatened ecosystems. This includes global change biogeography (e.g. climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation), landscape ecology, and the sustainable management of ecosystems. My current doctoral research focuses on the role of mammalian community composition and intactness in the ecological functioning of the Ethiopian Highlands. I work most closely with the gramnivorous Gelada monkey, and work on many classic herbivore ecology questions rarely explored in primates. In pursuing these interests, I use a diverse set of tools ranging from biogeochemistry, kite-based aerial surveying, and animal movement monitoring (and of course my trusty binoculars and an all-weather notebook).
The overarching goal of my work is the effective communication of global change science through the integration of traditional peer-reviewed science, participation of local people and visual media to bridge the gap between science and society in order to inspire awareness and action about global change.
