Welcome to the Conservation Ecology Research Group! We are a group of researchers based at Durham University, in Durham, United Kingdom. Our work ranges from the evolutionary ecology of individual behaviour to the drivers of global biogeographic patterns, usually with a strong applied focus. 
Recent News
  • Phil and the MammalWeb team have been thrilled to accept two recent awards on behalf of MammalWeb!  MammalWeb won the "NBN Group Award 2024" at the NBN Awards for Wildlife Recording in November, and "Volunteer Group of the Year" at the recent County Durham Environment Awards in February.  These awards are testament to the dedication and enthusiasm of all the volunteers who help to record Britain's mammals, both by deploying cameras and by classifying the wildlife captured on film!

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  • Jamie and Phil have had a new  paper published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence, `Estimating mesocarnivore abundance on commercial farmland using distance sampling with camera traps''. Using data from camera trap surveys of mesocarnivores in South Africa, they show the importance of the snapshot interval parameter in estimating density. Check out the paper here.
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  • The MammalWeb team, led by CEG alumnus, Pen-Yuan Hsing, have published a full description of the MammalWeb platform. In Large-scale mammal monitoring: The potential of a citizen science camera-trapping project in the United Kingdom, we talk about the project's growth and design, about the amazing work of our contributors, and about the potential of the platform to help to deliver large-scale monitoring of mammals in the UK, and beyond. We also consider challenges to this and similar initiatives, elsewhere. Read the paper here.
 
  • Sian and Phil have a new paper out in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, examining Camera trapping with photos and videos: implications for ecology and citizen science.  Sian used twin camera placements with camera traps set to photo or video to show that, in contrast to popular belief, at least for the camera model used, videos capture just as much as photos - but they are more engaging.  Check out Sian's thread about the paper, here.
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  • Steve Willis and CEG alumnus Alke Voskamp have a new paper out in Proceedings B that investigates the impacts of climate change on the phylogenetic diversity of the world's terrestrial birds. See here for the paper, and for the associated news coverage in Science and Durham University's news page.
 
See additional group news here or follow us on Twitter @CEGDurham