EES seminar by Dr. Andrea Griffin May 16

We will have an EES seminar on 5/16 at 10:30~12:00 as follows. We look forward to your participation.

Date＆time : 5/16 10:30~12:00

Room : D201

Presenter : Dr Andrea S. Griffin（University of Newcastle, Australia）

Talk title: Shorebirds of the Hunter and Port Stephens Estuaries: Using automated telemetry, stable isotopes and e-DNA to quantify movement and food chains in overwintering shorebirds

Talk summary : Migratory shorebirds are the world’s most endangered group of bird species. Australia’s estuaries provide overwintering habitat for some 2.5 million individuals each year. The Hunter and Port Stephens estuaries are two of just four in New South Wales of international significance to protecting Australia’s migratory shorebirds. They are also amongst the regions that are losing multiple shorebird species the fastest nationally. Unfortunately, these estuaries have little to no history of shorebird research and critical knowledge gaps are impeding effective management. In this talk, I will explain how our group is using multiple traditional and emerging technologies to identify patterns of local and regional movement and habitat use and to quantify the flow and diversity of nutrients from different estuarine habitats that fuel shorebird diets. Our interdisciplinary work is dependent upon key partnerships with government and community agencies, a feature that will ensure that our findings will serve to prioritize protection and restoration of shorebird habitat now and into a future.

Biography : Dr Andrea Griffin is a zoologist with core expertise in animal behaviour. Her research interests lie in understanding how animals respond and adjust to environmental change and in finding ways of applying this knowledge to better manage and conserve species. She readily embraces interdisciplinary approaches to answer her research questions. She has studied the behaviour and ecology of invasive and native birds and more recently estuarine birds. She is currently leading two large collaborative research projects, one on the movement and foraging ecology of shorebirds, the other developing new approaches to applying artificial intelligence to acoustic wildlife monitoring. She is trained in biology, animal behaviour and ecology at the Universities of Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland and completed her PhD at Macquarie University followed by a Swiss National Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University in Canada. She joined the University of Newcastle in 2005 as Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellow and earned a lectureship in 2009. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Environmental Science where she co-leads the Conservation Science Research Group, a member of the Australian National Environmental Science Program (NESP, Resilient Landscapes Hub). She teaches Animal Behaviour and Conservation Biology to final year undergraduate students in Environmental Science and Management. The University of Newcastle has recognised her work through a 2019 Women in Leadership Award, a 2020 Women in Research Fellowship, and a 2022 CESE College Award for Excellence in Research Higher Degree student training. https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/andrea-griffin