PhD: Living with human disturbance: conservation physiology and genetics in a wild African primate
Bangor University
Zzm18fls@bangor.ac.uk
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoe-melvin-186a22108
@Zoe_Melvin on twitter
I completed my BSc in Zoology with a Professional Training Year at Cardiff University in 2016. For my undergraduate dissertation I conducted a population genetic analysis of the critically endangered Bojer’s skink in collaboration with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. This was to inform their future translocation program and conservation. Additionally, during my undergraduate I completed a Professional Training Year where I conducted a study of primate vigilance behaviour in Samango monkeys at the Primate and Predator Project, South Africa. Following my degree, I was a research assistant for two different projects involving studies of primates in Nigeria and Mozambique.
My main research interests lie in the scope of applied conservation research, with a more specific focus on behavioural ecology, conservation genetics and physiological responses to disturbance. For my PhD, I will be studying the endangered Zanzibar Red Colobus in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Department of Forestry and Non-Renewable Natural Resources in Zanzibar. The aim of the study is to understand the influence of habitat disturbance of primate oxidative stress, demography and population genetics using field and lab techniques.
See the below infographic for more information about Zoe’s exciting research. This was created by Zoe during an Infographics training course delivered by Infohackit and organised by Envision.
