Research Interests

• Range edge (meta)population dynamics
• Species responses to climate change
• Conservation finance and investment
• Urban ecology
• Ecosystem service provision
• Landscape and spatial ecology

 

CV

2010 -               Lecturer in Biodiversity Conservation, DICE, University of Kent

2006 – 2010      Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Biodiversity and Macroecology Group (BIOME), University of Sheffield

2004 – 2006      Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation (CEBC), University of Birmingham

2000 – 2004      PhD, University of Leeds

1997 – 2000      BSc(Hons) Zoology, Royal Holloway, University of London

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Publications

Selected Publications:

Armsworth P.R., Fishburn I.S., Davies Z.G., Gilbert J., Leaver N. & Gaston K.J. (2012). The size, concentration and growth of biodiversity conservation nonprofits. BioScience – in press

Dallimer M., Irvine K.N., Skinner A.M.J., Davies Z.G., Armsworth P.R., Rouquette J.R., Maltby L.L., Warren P.H. & Gaston K.J. (2012). Biodiversity and the feel-good factor: understanding associations between self-reported human well-being and species richness. BioScience 62: 47-55

Dallimer M., Tang Z.Y., Bibby P.R., Brindley P., Gaston K.J. & Davies Z.G. (2011). Temporal changes in greenspace in a highly urbanized region. Biology Letters 7: 763-766

Davies Z.G., Edmondson J.L., Heinemeyer A., Leake J.R. & Gaston K.J. (2011). Mapping urban ecosystem services: quantifying above-ground carbon storage at a city-wide scale. Journal of Applied Ecology 48: 1125-1134

Wilson R.J., Davies Z.G. & Thomas C.D. (2010). Linking habitat use to range expansion rates in fragmented landscapes: a metapopulation approach. Ecography 33: 73-82

Full list of publications

 

 

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Undergraduate Modules:

• DI305: Biodiversity (module convenor)

• DI501: Climate Change and Conservation (module convenor)

• DI518: Contemporary Conservation Science (module convenor)

Masters Modules:

• DI877: Population and Evolutionary Biology

• DI881: Advanced Topics in Conservation Ecology and Management

• DI884: Research Methods for Natural Sciences (module convenor)

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I am an applied ecologist who uses empirical data to address questions of importance to conservation management and policy.  My research interests are diverse, but focus on the following themes:

Conservation practice:

• Conservation planning, implementation and protected area development
• Assessing the effectiveness of conservation interventions
• Patterns of conservation finance and investment
• Relationships between the provision of ecosystem goods/services and biodiversity

Habitat fragmentation and/or climate change:

• (Meta)population dynamics of species that are of conservation concern, at the edge of their geographic range, and/or utilising resources distributed across multiple landscapes (e.g. summer and winter ranges for migratory insects)
• Species (e.g., individual behaviour) and assemblage (e.g. diversity) responses to environmental change

Urbanisation:

• Patterns of urbanisation and greenspace infrastructure
• Human-wildlife interactions
• Managing urban areas to maintain/enhance biodiversity and ecosystem service provision

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Research Student Supervision:

Charlie Gardner (PhD): Reconciling conservation and development within Madagascar’s rapidly expanding protected area system

Emma Shepheard-Walwyn (PhD): Culture and conservation in coastal Kenya

Jake Bicknell (PhD): Reduced-impact logging in tropical forests: a sustainable tool for biodiversity conservation?

Nicolás Gálvez (PhD): Conservation of elusive forest carnivores: effects of fragmentation on the small cat güiña (Leopardus guigna)in the temperate forest of southern Chile

Janna Steadman (Masters by Research): Understanding the nature and extent of relationships between conservation NGOs and the corporate sector

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