PhD: Assessing the impact of environmental contaminants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa: From sediments to crocodiles
School of Veterinary Sciences and Medicine
University of Nottingham
Originally half Scottish and half English, I grew up as a nature and wildlife enthusiast in rural France. I move to London in 2013 to do my undergraduate degree at UCL. Halfway through I switched to an MSci, which enabled me to study abroad at the University of Western Australia (Perth) for a year. Upon return to London, I completed my research project studying the effects of sediment pollution on the trophic ecology of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania.
After graduation, I completed various ecology-based internships in South Africa, Mauritius and Switzerland before returning to Mauritius to work for the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation (MWF). There, I spent a year working on rare bird conservation and management (Mauritius kestrel) and on island restoration projects, acting as assistant warden on Round Island.
I’m now back in the UK to undertake my PhD. My research project will assess the impacts of environmental contamination (heavy metals, POPs…etc) on wildlife along the Olifants river system, within and around Krüger National Park, South Africa. The project will involve rigorous environmental sampling of the system, as well as wildlife sampling of species thought to be affected. I will then be looking for links between pollutants and effects on wildlife health and on the ecosystem. This will hopefully enable us to better understand the accumulation and impacts of environmental contaminants on river systems and their inhabitants, with implications for best management practices.
See Calum’s research poster below for more information about this exciting research. This poster was created by Calum during an Infographics training course delivered by Infohackit and organised by Envision.
