Oceania Board of Directors
The Oceania Section of the Society for Conservation has an international following of members that support conservation in the Oceania Region. The Board of Directors is an elected body that facilitates the goals and activities of the Section.
Current Members
University of Otago, Department of Zoology
Future Members
If you are interested in being a member of the Oceania Board you must be a member of SCB and a member of the Section. Generally 2 to 4 board members are elected annually. The Call for Nominations goes out in September or October and the election runs in October or November. Each year section members receive an email about the open positions and the start of the election process. For more information about getting involved with this board, please contact a board member or scb@conbio.org.
Current Board Profiles |
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Aaron Gove SCBO web and list server manager Postdoctoral Researcher, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia Conservation interests: I am generally interested in plant-animal interactions and the integration of conservation with human land-uses. My farm-scale research (e.g., management of isolated trees or crop diversity) focuses on insects (ants) and birds, while my studies at broader biogeographical scales tend to focus upon plants. I am currently developing research in the biodiversity hotspot of south western Australia, but have also worked in Mexico and Ethiopia on similar questions. My hope for the Oceania section of the SCB is that it becomes one of the more influential institutions in the region, and becomes an important forum for land-managers and conservation researchers. |
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Jo Hoare SCBO Secretary Scientist, Department of Conservation, Christchurch, New Zealand Conservation interests: I am committed to the translation of knowledge gained from scientific research into conservation management. I am currently working as a part of a team interpreting national indicators of ecological integrity for environmental reporting in New Zealand. My focus is on trends in threatened species as an indicator of the wider benefits of conservation management. Previously I have worked on the ecology, behaviour and conservation of herpetofauna in New Zealand. |
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Richard Kingsford SCB- Board member Professor of Environmental Science, Australian Wetlands and Rivers, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of NSW, NSW 2052, Australia Conservation Interests: At the age of six, a pair of binoculars was hung around my neck when my grandmother took me bird watching around her garden in Kenya. She taught me how to identify birds which she meticulously ticked off on her long-term bird list. It engrained in me a long lasting love and appreciation of the environment. East Africa was a spectacular place to learn about the environment, with more than a thousand bird species. At the age of 12, my family emigrated to Australia and after completing my Phd on the ecology of the Australian wood duck, I joined the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service as a research scientist. Here I worked for the next 18 years, initially running one of the longest running aerial surveys in the world, the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey, which I continue to run. This drew me to looking at the magnificent wetlands of arid Australia and the importance of variable flow regimes in providing habitats not just for waterbirds but all organisms. Increasingly, I became aware from our long-term waterbird survey data that the status of waterbirds and wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin was grim. Decreasing flows meant less extensive inundation and lower flood frequencies. My attention became equally focused on the long-term sustainability of the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin and the effects of building dams, floodplain developments and extractions on the long-term viability of magnificent wetland ecosystems. These are global challenges as human populations increase and demand more of the products of water resource development (food and fibre). Determining environmental flows, protecting wetlands and designing policies for protection of free-flowing rivers remain the critical challenges for me and my research. |
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Carolyn Lundquist SCB Oceania Board Member Research Scientist, Marine Ecology National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand Gate 10, Silverdale Road PO Box 11-115 Hamilton 3251 New Zealand +64-7-859-1866 +64-7-856-0151 FAX c.lundquist@niwa.co.nz Conservation interests: I am a marine ecologist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Hamilton, New Zealand, and an honorary lecturer at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. I completed my undergraduate degree in marine biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, 1993), and my PhD degree in conservation ecology at the University of California, Davis (2000). I moved to New Zealand to take on a postdoctoral position in 2000, and soon took on a permanent position here. As a member of SCB since 1994, I remain committed to ensuring that conservation science is incorporated into resource management and policy. I have a strong interest in communicating conservation science to the public and to policy makers, and regularly organize workshops, symposia and presentations at scientific conferences, with regional policy makers, and to local community groups. My research focuses on the effects of human disturbances on marine communities, using a combination of empirical research and modeling to advise regional councils and government agencies, and community organisations on both conservation and utilisation of marine resources. I have been active on the SCB Board since 2002, serving as board member and president of the SCB Marine Section in 2002-2004 before joining the Oceania Section Board in 2008. I have assisted with SCB Section meetings; as program chair for the Biodiversity Extinction Crisis Conference – the AA section’s first (and extremely successful) regional meeting; and on the program committee for the upcoming SCB Marine section meeting in May 2009. I have participated on various SCB committees, including the SCB Membership, Student Affairs, and Awards committees. I look forward to continuing to serve the AA section, representing both New Zealand conservationists and the AA marine realm. |
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Emily Weiser Board Member Emily works in avian ecology and conservation. After completing her bachelor's in biology (in Maine, USA), she spent a few years working a variety of field jobs, mostly with birds in the US. One job took her to the Northern Mariana Islands to work with crows, which was her first experience in Oceania. She then spent three years in Alaska, working toward her MSc on the implications of human development for Glaucous Gulls and their prey on the Arctic tundra. She is now in Dunedin, NZ, in her second year of a PhD on genetic viability and management of threatened NZ forest birds. After finishing her degree, she plans to continue working toward conservation of birds and other wildlife by conducting research that can be directly applied to management efforts. |
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James Watson Adjuct member Wildlife Conservation Society, USA Conservation interests: As far back as I can remember, I have always loved the environment. As a young boy, I developed a life-long passion for birdwatching and spent many of my days exploring remote Australia for rare birds and I think it was these times that made me aspire to be an active conservation scientist. Since my undergraduate days I have had a special interest in conducting applied research that can be incorporated into conservation oriented policy. In 2001, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and I spent three years conducting conservation research in Madagascar. This experience taught me the importance of the nexus between conservation planning and sustainable development. Since completing my phd, all my research has been focussed on assessing the impacts of human-induced environmental change on biodiversity and developing informed plans to ameliorate these impacts. I have attempted to vary the research I have conducted to ensure that I have a wide range of knowledge and experience to apply across the conservation research realm. I have also always endeavoured to make my research count by always engaging local stakeholders in the research process and ensuring the conservation management options that are developed, are taken up. In 2007, I moved into the environmental NGO sector to take a senior campaigner position. I was responsible for developing the scientific framework which underpins all of The Wilderness Society’s conservation campaigns. In this role, I was able to observe the varying roles government, community and other important stakeholders play in gaining conservation outcomes and the best ways applied science can inform these processes. I believe this was a very valuable experience away from the academic world and allowed me to experience how conservation policies are developed in Australia. I am now a post doctoral fellow at the University of Queensland and conducting research on designing tools for optimal decision making for the conservation of biodiversity. I have been a board member of the SCNB since the beginning of 2008. My aim is to help contribute to conservation policy development in the region and also get SCB-O more involved with generating real conservation outcomes in the region. I aim towork with government, NGOs and other stakeholders to achieve this. Another aim is to continue to build capacity and involvement in the countries of Micronesia, Polynesia and Macronesia. I can see that that due to the large numbers of members in New Zealand and Australia, there is often a focus on these two countries areas and I am keen to address this imbalance. |
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Jean-Yves Meyer |
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Stacy Jupiter Board Member Wildlife Conservation Society, Fiji Country Program, Fiji I have always been interested in how human behaviour and actions have disrupted the natural linkages between ecosystems. My research, therefore, seeks to identify the implications of anthropogenic disturbance to natural systems and to find management solutions to restore or preserve ecosystem functions, processes and services. After completing a bachelors degree in biology at Harvard University, I worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon teaching rural farmers how to build fishponds and develop sustainable agriculture. It was there in the dense jungles of Gabon that I really start to wonder about the downstream consequences of all of the sediment that washed away after the farmers cleared their plantations. My PhD research through the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Queensland focused on linkages between land use and downstream impacts to water quality and nearshore coral reefs in Australia, topics which I continued to develop as a postdoctoral fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. With the WCS-Fiji team, my work focuses on assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas to increase the abundance and size of food fish of importance to local communities. In addition, I try to integrate connectivity science into development of a national system of protected areas for Fiji to preserve ecosystem services, livelihoods and human health. I am an active member of the Fiji National Protected Area Committee, Integrated Coastal Management Committee and Environmental Law Association. |
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Nicky Nelson Senior Lecturer, Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Conservation interests: In 1989 I completed a BSc in Plant and Microbial Sciences at the University of Canterbury. I worked as a laboratory technician for a few years, before my passion for conservation led me to undertake a Masters in Conservation Science at Victoria University of Wellington. This research led to my PhD investigating the temperature-dependent sex determination and artificial incubation of tuatara, a threatened New Zealand reptile. I was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Conservation and Research for Endangered Species Division of San Diego Zoo to study the effects of global warming on tuatara, and now have an academic position at VUW, supervising postgraduate students in their research endeavours. |
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Wendy Jackson (ex officio) Board Member Strategic Partnerships: International Liaison - Department of Conservation, New Zealand My role at the NZ Department of Conservation entails taking New Zealand's good conservation stories to the international arena, and ensuring that international commitments are met at home. Most of my engagement is with the UN biodiversity conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES); and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). I also do a lot of capacity building work in the region, assisting our Pacific Island neighbours with implementation of CITES. This reflects my area of conservation interest: the effectiveness of international environmental agreements. Do international agreements actually have a positive impact on biodiversity, and what can we do to ensure they do? I have previously worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (Kenya), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (New York and around the world), Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (a research and policy thinktank in South Africa), and Environment Canada. |