Dr Donna Harris

Biography/ Background

My current focus is to investigate the factors limiting species distributions and abundance through a combination of ecological modelling and field work. This includes building species distribution models for five kangaroo species and quantifying spatial variation in density and wellbeing across the range of the antilopine wallaroo (Macropus antilopinus). This research is part of a larger ARC Discovery project to explore spatially explicit range dynamics across a suite of representative taxa. We hope that our results will significantly advance modelling capabilities and, in turn, conservation management.

My additional research interests include the effects of climate change on species distributions, invaded community ecology and management, conservation prioritisation and conservation psychology.

Although my background as a conservation ecologist is largely in invasive species and their impacts on insular ecosystems, I recently managed a large scale project for the RSPB to investigate the biodiversity value of reedbed wetlands in the UK in relation to management.

 

Qualifications

DPhil Ecology - University of Oxford, UK

Msc Applied Ecology and Conservation - University of East Anglia, UK

BSc (Hons) Zoology - University of Glasgow, UK

 

Publications

Harris, D.B., Gregory, S.D., Bull, L.S., Courchamp, F. 2012. Island prioritization for invasive rodent eradications with an emphasis on reinvasion risk. Biological Invasions 14: 1251-1263

Harris, D.B. 2009. Review of negative effects of introduced rodents on small mammals on islands. Biological Invasions 11:1611-1630

Harris, D.B., Macdonald, D.W. 2007. Interference competition between introduced black rats and endemic Galápagos rice rats. Ecology 88: 2330-2344

Harris, D.B., Macdonald, D.W. 2007. Population ecology of the endemic rodent Nesoryzomys swarthi in the tropical desert of the Galápagos Islands. Journal of Mammalogy 88: 208-219

Phillips, R.B., Harris, D.B., Snell, H.L. 2007. Vertical bait stations for detection and control of alien rats in sympatry with Galápagos rodents. Journal of Wildlife Management 71: 2736-2742.

Harris, D.B., S.D. Gregory and D. W. Macdonald. 2006. Space invaders? A search for patterns underlying the coexistence of alien black rats and Galápagos rice rats. Oecologia 149: 276-288.

Harris, D.B., Macdonald, D.W. 2006. Special Feature: Driven to the edge -Endangered survivors of the Galápagos rat race. In D.W. Macdonald (Editor): The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, UK

Rosser, A.M., Haywood, A.J., Harris, D.B., Crofton, P. 2004. Eds. CITES: A Conservation Tool. A Guide to Amending the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Eighth Edition. Prepared for the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, October 2004, Thailand. IUCN 2004.

 

 

 

 

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 15 May 2012