I am interested in questions related to biodiversity and conservation science in general, rather than specific taxa or research fields. As such I have worked on topics as broad as the social ecology of taxonomist and wildlife trade over the internet, to climate change and extinction modeling. My most recent work focusses on developing a method of estimating the date of extinctions and investigating wildlife trade over the internet.

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Recent Publications

Solow, A., Smith, W., Burgman, M.A., Rout, T., Wintle, B., Roberts, D.L. (2012) Uncertain sightings and the extinction of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Conservation Biology, 26: 180-184.

Joppa, L.N., Roberts, D.L., Pimm, S.L. (2011) The population ecology and social behaviour of taxonomists. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 26: 551-553.

Joppa, L.N., Roberts, D.L., Myers, N., Pimm, S.L. (2011) Biodiversity hotspots house most undiscovered plant species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108: 13171-13176.

Joppa, L.N., Roberts, D.L., Pimm, S.L. (2011) How many species of flowering plants are there? Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 278: 554-559.

Robbirt, K.M., Davy, A.J., Hutchings, M.J., Roberts, D.L. (2011) Validation of biological collections as a source of phenological data for use in climate change studies: a case study with the orchid Ophrys sphegodes. Journal of Ecology, 99:235-241.

Roberts, D.L., Elphick, C.S., Reed, J.M. (2010) Identifying anomalous reports of putatively extinct species and why it matters. Conservation Biology, 24: 189-196.

Full list of publications

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Teaching

Undergraduate modules:

DI311: The Green Planet

DI505 Topics in Conservation Biology

DI508 Skills for Conservation Biologists

 

Taught Masters Modules:

DI871: International Wildlife Trade - Achieving Sustainability

DI881: Advanced Topics in Conservation Ecology and Management

SE836: Introduction to Botanical Ethnobotany

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Research

Most of my research focuses on questions relating to species detectability and extinction, and orchid ecology; in particular the response of orchids to climate change, epiphyte community ecology and modelling epiphyte seed dispersal. In pursuit of these goals, I have travelled widely, focusing on study systems in the western Indian Ocean islands and Africa. Since moving to DICE I have become particularly interested in investigating wildlife trade over the internet and developing tools and strategies to aid detection and gathering of statistics.

Although I am primarily an "orchid" person, I work on a diverse range of taxa including, ants, the dodo, mammoths and the North Atlantic Right Whale. More recently I have moved into wildlife trade and the role of the internet. Further details can be found on my website.

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Supervision

Amy Hinsley (PhD): 'Characterising the formation and structure of international wildlife trade networks in the age of online communication'

Susanne Masters (PhD): Global Salep trade

Karen Robbirt (PhD - PT at Kew/UEA): 'Will climate warming present British orchids with a pollination crisis?'

Lydia Yeo (PhD): 'Application of mark-recapture models in assessing wildlife crime'

Emma Ford (MSc by Research): Investigating the demand for captive bred vs wild collected chameleons

Janine Robinson (PhD): 'Captive-farming in the exotic pet trade'

Anita Wan (MSc by Research): 'Morphological & colour preference in the ornamental fish trade'

Victoria Stephens (MSc by Research): 'Development of a science-based quota system for the Golden Mantella'

Declan Crace (MSc by Research): 'The way you make me move: how people forage while surveying biodiversity'

Lucy Smith (MSc by Research): 'Mortality in the ornamental fish trade'

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Other Activities

Academic Editorial Board - PeerJ

Academic Editorial Board - PLoS ONE

Editorial Board of Endangered Species Research

Advisor – Malesian Orchid Journal

Herbier de la Réunion – associate

Association pour l’Étude Taxonomique de la Flore d’Afrique Tropicale – member

Cyber Security Centre at the University of Kent - member

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