Victoria Coulton
My main area of research interest lies in spatial ecology and species responses to environmental change. I became interested in spatial modelling using GIS and R statistical software during my undergraduate degree, where I learned the practical applications of modelling for conservation management. Building on this, my final year thesis modelled distributional changes in an endangered vegetation community to investigate the vulnerability of the veld to climate change. As part of my BSc placement year, I worked with a long-term monitoring project for nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in Greece and volunteered with a range of biodiversity monitoring and conservation projects in South Africa. After volunteering with the Primate and Predator project in Limpopo, I became interested in the use of camera traps to monitor populations, and the different techniques available to model species density. The ability to gain reliable density estimates of small carnivore populations is essential for monitoring how populations respond to environmental and anthropogenic changes. My MRes research will investigate the ability of camera trapping to be applied to smaller, elusive carnivores that are relatively understudied, particularly in Southern Africa. Specifically, I aim to provide an initial density estimate for African wildcat (Felis silvestris cafra) within the Umfurudzi Park, Zimbabwe, which will provide baseline data for long-term monitoring of population trends. Position: Research Masters Student
Supervised by: Prof Russell Hill and Prof Philip Stephens Memberships: Conservation Ecology Group (CEG), Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution Research (BEER) Centre Contact Details: Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE Tel: + 44 (0) 191 334 1266 Email: victoria.c.coulton@durham.ac.u Education
2021 - Present MRes , Durham University 2019 BSc Conservation Biology, Plymouth University |
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