Insights Wales – Cardiff University Otter Project – Otters as Sentinels

RESCHEDULED to Friday 26th May 13:30 – 14:30

The Cardiff University Otter Project run a long term environmental surveillance scheme, using otters found dead to investigate contaminants, disease, and population biology across the UK.

About the Speaker

After a degree in Biology at Cardiff University (1997), Liz returned to Cardiff to undertake a PhD at the Llysdinam field centre with Dr F Slater (1998-2003). The study focused on the breeding phenology and winter behaviour of common British amphibians, looking at temporal and spatial variation in phenology, and assessing how changes in climate might influence behaviour and body condition.

Following a short post-doctoral position in 2003 conducting a scoping study for research in the Cape Verde islands, Liz took over as head of the Cardiff University Otter Project in 2004. While using the otter as the study species, this has enabled her to develop a diverse range of inter-related research projects. These both further our understanding of this elusive European protected species, and use it as a model organism to investigate key ecological principles and processes.

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