Professor Richard A Griffiths
Professor of Biological Conservation
Director of Graduate Studies (DICE) |
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| Telephone: 01227 823434 |
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Email: R.A.Griffiths@kent.ac.uk
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CV
| 2009 - |
Professor of Biological Conservation, DICE |
| 2003 - 09 |
Reader in Biological Conservation, DICE |
| 2000 - 03 |
Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity Conservation, DICE |
| 1995 - 00 |
Lecturer
in Biodiversity Conservation, DICE |
| 1990 - 95 |
NERC Advanced Fellow, DICE |
| 1987 - 90 |
Lecturer in Biological Sciences, NESCOT |
| 1986 - 87 |
Research Fellow in Ecology, Leicester Polytechnic |
| 1983 - 87 |
Research Fellow in Ecology, University of Wales |
| 1979 - 83 |
PhD, Zoology, Birkbeck College, University of London |
| 1975 - 78 |
BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences, Westfield College, University of London |
Research Interests
- Population, community and behavioural ecology
- Global amphibian declines and extinctions
- Conservation of reptiles
- Survey and monitoring protocols for biodiversity
- Recovery programme design and execution
Assessment and mitigation of threats to amphibian populations
Although it is widely acknowledged that amphibians may be declining faster than other vertebrate classes, the threats that they face are diverse and complex. Understanding these threats and their impact on population dynamics is an essential first step in designing effective tools to neutralize them. In Britain, the effectiveness of current strategies to mitigate development threats to great crested newts is being investigated in combination with long-term population studies of this fully protected species. In addition, the use of amphibians as indicators of wider biodiversity is being tested. Related projects are investigating threats to the axolotl at Lake Xochimilco in Mexico and how these might be mitigated through nature tourism and conservation education initiatives, and the role of captive breeding and reintroduction in species conservation planning.
Species recovery programmes on islands
Some of the world's most threatened amphibian species occur on islands. In addition to their conservation importance, islands often provide natural laboratories for testing hypotheses about species declines and potential species recovery following threat mitigation. Current projects are focusing on the population genetics and conservation of the Hog Island boa on Cayos Cochinos islands, Honduras and how landscape change and habitat fragmentation are impacting on declining amphibian and reptile populations on Jersey.
Design of survey and monitoring programmes for reptiles and amphibians
Assessing the abundance and distribution of species is fundamental to conservation planning. However, simple counts of individuals or occupied sites may bear little relationship to actual population sizes or site occupancies because of variation in how easily individuals or populations are detected. Reptiles and amphibians pose particular challenges in this regard as a wide range of variables may affect how easily they are observed and detected. Current work is exploring how mark-recapture and site occupancy models can be used to account for variation in the detectability of reptiles and amphibians, and how survey and monitoring protocols can be designed to provide more informative data on population status and distribution. In addition, the responses of animals to different types of sampling devices - such as traps and cover objects - are being compared with a view to optimising sampling strategies. Work is particularly focusing on newts, slow-worms, grass snakes and adders.
National/International activities
- Member, NERC Peer Review College
- Chair, International Herpetological Committee of the World Congress of Herpetology
- Member, IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group
- Member, International Review Panel of African Journal of Ecology
- Honorary International Conservation Research Fellow, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Jersey
- Honorary Life Member, British Herpetological Society
- Trustee, Amphibian Conservation Research Trust
- Trustee, Wildwood Trust
- External Examiner: MSc Ecology and Management of the Natural Environment, University of Bristol
Research Staff
Dr David Sewell. Development of survey and monitoring protocols for reptiles and amphibians.
Dr Richard Jenkins. Chameleon trade and conservation in Madagascar (link to Darwin Initiative project page of Madagasikara Voakajy website).
PhD students
Steve Green. Ecology, conservation and commercial exploitation of the 'Hog Island' Boa constrictor in the Cayos Cochinos, Honduras (with Operation Wallacea).
Laurence Jarvis. Microhabitat requirements of the great crested newt in a woodland habitat (Open University external student).
Brett Lewis. Ecological and economic cost-effectiveness of mitigation actions for protected species on sites scheduled for development (NERC/ESRC studentship)
Jennifer Sears. Invasive species as vectors of disease and amphibian population declines (NERC CASE studentship with the Zoological Society of London)
Moacir Tinoco. Habitat change and the distribution and abundance of herpetofauna in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (with Catholic University of Salvador, Brazil).
Laura Wood. Development and testing of an amphibian monitoring and conservation strategy for Luxembourg (with Nature Conservation Department, Luxembourg).
Emma Wombwell. The implications of an emerging infectious disease for the global trade and conservation of amphibians (NERC/ESRC studentship with the Institute of Zoology).
MSc research students
Nina Cornish. Phylogeography and conservation of Jersey’s Wall Lizards Podarcis muralis
Marcileida Dos Santos. New directions in herpetology and conservation science.
Mary Campling. Detection of reptiles on Surrey Heaths
Captive breeding, reintroduction, and the conservation of amphibians
The following files provide supplementary information to the paper by Griffiths & Pavajeau (2008) published in Conservation Biology 22: 852-861. These lists will be periodically updated, and we welcome new information on additional captive breeding and reintroduction projects that we might be able to include. Any additional species and literature will be posted in blue. Such studies must have clear links to conservation of the species concerned. Please contact me if you have any queries or comments.
Literature on captive breeding
List of amphibian species in captive breeding programmes
Selected publications (click here for fuller
list)
Kraaijeveld-Smit FJL, Griffiths, RA, Moore, RD and Beebee TJC (2006). Captive breeding and the fitness of reintroduced species: a test of the responses to predators in a threatened amphibian. Journal of Applied Ecology, 43, 360-365.
Beebee, TJC & Griffiths, RA (2005). The amphibian decline crisis: A watershed for conservation biology? Biological Conservation, 25, 271-285.
Griffiths, RA (2004). Mismatches between conservation science and practice. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 19, 564-565.
Griffiths, R.A. (2004). Great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) in Europe: the effects of metapopulation structure and juvenile dispersal on population persistence. In: Species Conservation and Management: Case Studies (Ed: H.R. Ackakaya et al.). Oxford University Press.
Beebee, T. J. C. & Griffiths, R. A. (2000). Amphibians and Reptiles. Harper-Collins, New Naturalist. |
