Conservation Ecology Group @ Durham University
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Stuart Brooker

My overriding concern is for the conservation of habitats and species. I am interested in the spatial and temporal distribution of species within the landscape, and how populations and communities respond to environmental change and loss of habitat. I seek to understand the causal factors underlying population fluctuations, and ultimately, I hope that my work can offer remedies for the reversal of worrying declines.

​Acoustic monitoring of sound-producing animals is becoming an increasingly efficient process thanks to advances in automated audio recorders. I utilised such equipment during my PhD to determine influences on the timing and intensity of dawn singing activity in woodland bird communities throughout Great Britain. However, extracting reliable species-specific information from large and noisy acoustic datasets remains problematic. In my current role, I am assisting in the design and build of a web-based platform that will facilitate the classification of audio data by citizen scientists. The platform will allow citizen scientists to augment our current datasets by uploading and classifying their own recordings. The output will provide the Conservation Ecology Group with valuable data that will be used to better understand the distribution, ecology and vocal behaviour of target species.

I have also been working with Durham University’s Estates and Facilities Directorate, assisting in a biodiversity assessment of the university estate. This work will identify areas of high biodiversity value with the intention of safe-guarding their future.


Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biosciences

Supervised by: Prof. Stephen Willis, Dr. Philip Stephens

Memberships:  Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution Research (BEER) Centre
                        Royal Society of Biology (MRSB)

                        Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (Grad-CIEEM)
                        British Ecological Society
                        British Ornithologists' Union

Contact Details: Department of Biosciences,
                         Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE
                         Phone + 44 (0) 191 334 1266
                         Email: s.a.brooker@durham.ac.uk


Education

2015 - 2020      PhD Biological Sciences, Durham University
2013 - 2015       MScR Biological Sciences, Durham University

2009 - 2012      BSc Ecology (Honours), University of Essex

Publications

Brooker, S. A., Stephens, P. A., Whittingham, M. J., Willis, S. G. (2020) Automated detection and classification of birdsong: an ensemble approach. Ecological Indicators 117, 106609.

Selected Awards 

NERC Iapetus PhD Student Award, 2016
The Grevillea Trust Masters Scholarship, University of Durham, 2013
The Society of Biology Student Award, University of Essex, 2012
The Abel-Imray Project Prize, University of Essex, 2012
The Environmental and Conservation Prize, University of Essex, 2012
The Environmental and Conservation Prize, University of Essex, 2011

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Other

Bird ringing - BTO C-permit holder
Moth Trapping at Durham University - see 'Stu's Top Moths'
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