Team otter

‘Team Otter’ are currently led by Dr Elizabeth Chadwick, who has been Project Manager since 2004. Sarah Paul is our head research assistant, and deals with all the day to day running of the project. Research Associate Dr Eleanor Kean focuses on toxicology and scent communication. Ellie Sherrard Smith is a PhD student on the Project; Dr Geoff Hobbs gained his doctorate in 2010 and is working with the group to complete journal articles arising from his thesis.

The project also benefits from a large and ever-changing group of volunteers and collaborators. Many of our volunteers are undergraduates at Cardiff; we also take on students through a number of national and international schemes such as ECTARC, IAESTE and Nuffield. Please check our facebook group for information about volunteering opportunities, or contact us.

Staff

Dr Elizabeth Chadwick did her first otter dissections as an undergraduate, during her professional training year in 1996-97 at the Llysdinam Field Centre. At the time, the Otter Project was managed by Dr Adeline Bradshaw. In 2004 (after finishing her degree, a PhD in herpetology, and a short post-doc position looking at ecotourism and ecology in the Cape Verde islands), she took over as Otter Project Manager. Recognising that as a one-woman band she could not exploit the full potential of the project, she started roping in colleagues and acquaintances to provide expertise in a wide diversity of research areas, from parasitology to molecular genetics. The project continues to go from strength to strength, not only developing our understanding of this elusive species, but also using it as a model organism to investigate ecological principles and processes.

 

 

Dr Eleanor Kean Having spent a few years conducting spraint and camera trap surveys for Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Eleanor joined the Project in 2008 in search of a new method to monitor otter populations. She completed her PhD on otter scent communication in 2012 having juggled thesis write up, a fellowship in Parliament and completing a report on pollutants in otter livers for the Environment Agency. She has now joined the Project as a Research Associate, continuing the ecotoxicology research and working on funding applications.  

 

 

 

 

Rosemary Moorhouse-Gann graduated from the University of Sussex in 2009 with a BSc (Hons) in Biology. In 2012 Rosemary completed an MRes (Master of Research) in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at Imperial College London. During her time at Imperial, she carried out research on the population genetics of the invasive American grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in the UK and the population dynamics of the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) in deciduous woodland. Upon completion of her Masters, she joined the Otter Project as Assistant Project Manager. Rosemary is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project, which includes carrying out post mortems, compiling reports, publicising the project and developing new avenues of research.

 

Willow Smallbone is currently a student of Zoology at Cardiff University, and began volunteering with the Otter Project in 2010, assisting with post mortems. She is now taking a Professional Training Year (a year away from her taught course, to develop research skills, broaden experience and knowledge), and is working as a research assistant with the Otter Project. As part of this, Willow is assisting in various research projects, post mortems, report writing as well as volunteer recruitment and coordination.

 

 

 

 

PhD students

Ellie Sherrard-Smith (supervised by Dr E Chadwick and Dr J Cable, 2009-present) Ellie graduated from Cardiff University in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Zoology. During the third year of her undergraduate degree she worked with the Welsh Biomass Centre and Cardiff University Field Centre at Llysdinam. After graduating, Ellie worked at the Cardiff University Otter Project for two years on a variety of projects including cementum analysis, reproduction, seasonality and stable isotope analyses. Whilst working at the project, the gall bladder parasite Metorchis albidus was discovered, this work led directly to her current PhD examining otter parasites in the UK.

Since graduating Ellie has completed a teaching role for a short stint in Honduras for Operation Wallacea, she is also a STEM ambassador.

Geoff Hobbs (supervised by Dr E Chadwick, Dr F Slater and Prof M Bruford) graduated in 2010. His PhD used muscle tissue samples from the otter archive at Cardiff, as well as samples from southwest England donated by Vic Simpson, to analyse population structure. He continues to prepare manuscripts arising from his thesis, and is now working as Biodiversity Officer at Bridgend Council.

David Stanton is a PhD student in the conservation genetics research group here at Cardiff. During the final year of his degree he worked alongside Geoff Hobbs on the mitochondrial genetic diversity and structure of the European otter (Lutra lutra) in Britain (Stanton et al 2009). Though his PhD (2010-present) is on the genetic structure of okapi (Okapia johnstoni) in the forests of the DRC he is also currently looking at the landscape genetics of Lutra lutra in Scotland, in his spare time. 

Associated staff at Cardiff University 

Professor Mike Bruford leads a thriving conservation genetics group at Cardiff, and co-supervised Geoff Hobbs during his PhD on otter genetics. He continues to support the otter project in his capacity as Group leader for the Organisms and Environment Division at Cardiff University. Dr Jo Cable is a molecular parasitolgist at Cardiff. She takes an advisory role for many aspects of the project, and co-supervises Ellie Sherrard Smith. Dr Carsten Müller is a chemical ecologist. He manages the Biosciences analytical unit and co-supervised Eleanor Kean's PhD.

Volunteers

Each year we are joined by a number of undergraduate volunteers, who make the most of the opportunity to gain some practical experience of mammalian dissection. Some return for longer term volunteering placements in the summer holidays or after their degree. A number of international graduates have also joined us through ECTARC and IAESTE (thanks to Sonia Valladares, Morena Ferraro, Marta Pasanau, Asun Lopez and Akiko Obata), and UK A-level students through the Nuffield scheme (thanks to Amy Bradley and Liz Turner). Volunteers assist with many aspects of the project, from recording observations during post mortems, to developing mini-research projects. Short-term volunteers primarily assist observations and sampling during otter dissections; longer term volunteers typically receive training in a range of lab based activities such as dissection and microscopy, and office skills including use of mapping in ArcMap GIS and databasing in MS Access. If you are interested in volunteering please contact us or see our facebook page for opportunities.

Previous Assistants

Since 2007 the Environment Agency has supported a technician post with the project. This has enabled us to employ a series of research assistants to help with all aspects of the project. Ellie Sherrard-Smith took on the role from 2007 to 2009, followed by Zoe Deakin from 2009 to 2010 and Sarah Paul from 2010 to 2012.