Drones and technology improving conservation with Rohan Clarke

If you have a copy of the Australian Bird Guide, then you are already familiar with some of the work of Rohan Clarke.  If you have been a keen Bird Nerd for many, many years, and consume as much information as you can about Australian Birds, then you have probably read many articles where Rohan is an author, or cited as a reference. (I know I have!)

Rohan is an ecologist and ornithologist, is a Master of Environment and Sustainability, a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Head of the 'Research Ecology' lab, in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University.

While Rohan is widely known for his interest in avian ecology, he has also done a lot of work with animals of all sorts, and is now shaping the careers of young ecologists, working on research projects of all sorts.

Here is his bio on the Monash University "Lens" - "Rohan is interested in the ecology of Australian birds, with current research focusing on the conservation biology and management of threatened species. His conservation orientated research has sought applied management solutions for a suite of species that occupy semi-arid mallee environments (Black-eared Miner, Mallee Emu-wren) and woodland environments (Turquoise Parrot, Grey-crowned Babbler, Helmeted and Regent Honeyeaters)."

This should give you a good idea about where Rohan's head is at!

Here are a couple of recent papers that have come out of Rohan's lab at Monash University;

This one is on the response to the Black Sat Bushfires and the Bristlebird rescue (open access) https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/csp2.606…

This one on some of the recent translocation work (and led by PhD student Will Mitchell) https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/csp2.569

And this one is on Giant Centipedes and seabirds on Norfolk Island and the fact that the centipedes structure the food web (led by PhD student Luke Halpin) https://journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/715702

Here is a link to a more exhaustive list of Rohan's published work.

Follow Rohan on Twitter - you will get a lot of quality #BirdNerd content there - https://twitter.com/rohanclarke01

Follow Rohan on Facebook - here