Dr Chris Carbone

Curriculum Vitae:

• 2005: Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Zoology, ZSL.
• 1998-2004: Research Fellow, Institute of Zoology, ZSL.
• 1998: Research Fellow, Wildlife Conservation Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.
• 1994-1997: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe.
• 1992-1994: Royal Society European Exchange Postdoctoral Fellowship & Austrian Academy of Sciences Fellowship, Konrad Lorenz Institute, Vienna.
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Research Interests:

My research combines theoretical approaches and comparative analyses to look at broad scale patterns in ecology related to body size, diet and trophic level. My recent work has focused the body size scaling of prey selection and abundance in predators, and patterns in animal space use. I also work with projects examining human-wildlife interactions particularly focusing on the impacts of altered landscapes on wildlife ecology and species richness. This research includes examining ways to improve wildlife monitoring methods, particularly focusing on the use of camera traps to estimate mammalian biodiversity.
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Selected Publications:

Rowcliffe, J.M., Carbone, C., Jansen, P., Kays, R., and Kranstauber, B. (2011) Quantifying the sensitivity of camera traps: an adapted distance sampling approach, Methods in Ecology & Evolution (in press).

Isaac, N.J.B., Storch, D and Carbone, C. (2011) Taxonomic variation in size-density relationships challenges the notion of energy equivalence. Biology Letters (in press).

Carbone, C., Turvey, S. and Bielby, J. (2011). Intra-guild competition and its implications for one of the biggest terrestrial predators, Tyrannosaurus rex. Proc. R. Soc. B. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2497 Download PDF

Carbone, C., Pettorelli, N. and Stephens, P. (2010). The bigger they come, the harder they fall: body size and prey abundance influence predator–prey ratios. Biology Letters, doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0996

Craigie, I. D., J. E. M. Baillie, Balmford, A., Carbone, C., Collen, B., Green, R. E., Hutton, J. M. (2010). "Large mammal population declines in Africa's protected areas." Biological Conservation 143(9): 2221-2228

Isaac, N.J.B. and Carbone, C. (2010), Why are metabolic scaling exponents so controversial? Quantifying variance and testing hypotheses. Ecology Letters 13: 728–735.

Kays, R. W., Kranstauber, B., Jansen, P. A., Carbone, C., Rowcliffe, M.,Fountain, T., and Tilak, S. (2009) Camera Traps as Sensor Networks for Monitoring Animal Communities. IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks 34:811-818.

Van Valkenburgh, B., Maddox, T., Funston, P. J., Mills, M. G. L., Grether, G. F. and Carbone, C. Sociality in Rancho La Brea Smilodon: arguments favour ‘evidence’ over ‘coincidence’. Biology Letters 23 August 2009 vol. 5 no. 4 563-564.

Carbone, C., and N. Pettorelli (2009) Testing relationships between energy and vertebrate abundance. International Journal of Ecology 2009:1-6.

Pettorelli, N., J. Bro-Jorgensen, S. M. Durant, T. Blackburn, and C. Carbone (2009) Energy availability and density estimates in African ungulates. American Naturalist 173:698-704.

Carbone, C., T. Maddox, P. J. Funston, M. G. L. Mills, G. F. Grether, and B. Van Valkenburgh (2009) Parallels between playbacks and Pleistocene tar seeps suggest sociality in an extinct sabretooth cat, Smilodon. Biology Letters 5:81-85.

Rowcliffe, J.M. and Carbone, C. (2008) Surveys using camera traps: are we looking to a brighter future? Animal Conservation 11: 185-186. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2008.00180.x

Rowcliffe, J.M., Field, J., Turvey, S.T. and Carbone, C. (2008) Estimating animal density using camera traps without the need for individual recognition. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01473.x

Stephens, P.A., Carbone, C., Boyd, I.L., McNamara, J.M., Harding, K.C. and Houston, A.I. (2008) The scaling of diving time budgets: insights from an optimality approach. American Naturalist 171(3): 305-314. DOI: 10.1086/527491

Carbone, C., Rowcliffe, J.M., Cowlishaw, G. and Isaac, N.J.B. (2007) The scaling of abundance in consumers and their resources: implications for the energy equivalence rule. American Naturalist 170(3): 479-484. DOI: 10.1086/519858

Carbone, C., Teacher, A. and Rowcliffe, J.M. (2007) The Costs of Carnivory. PLoS Biology 5(2): E22. Download PDF

Carbone, C., Frame, L., Frame, H., Malcolm, J., Fanshawe, J., FitzGibbon, C., Schaller,G., Kruuk, H., Gordon, I., Rowcliffe, J.M and DuToit, J. (2005) Feeding success of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in the Serengeti: the effects of group size and kleptoparasitism. Journal of Zoology 266: 153-161.

Carbone, C., Cowlishaw, G., Isaac, N. J. B. and J. Marcus Rowcliffe (2005) How far do animals go? Determinants of day range in mammals. American Naturalist 165: 290-297.

Jetz, W., Carbone, C., Fulford J. & Brown, J.H. (2004) The scaling of animal space use. Science 306: 266-268.

Rowcliffe, J.M. Pettifor, R.A. and Carbone, C. (2004) Foraging inequalities in large groups: quantifying depletion experienced by individuals in goose flocks. Journal of Animal Ecology 73: 97-108.

Wikelski, M., Carbone, C. (2004) Environmental scaling of body size in island populations of the Galapagos Marine Iguana. In: Alberts, A.C., Carter R.L., Hayes W.K. & Martins, E.P. (eds) Iguanas, Biology and Conservation. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Carbone, C., Zadorina, L. Thompson, W., and Rowcliffe, J.M. (2003). Competition, predation risk and patterns of flock expansion. Journal of Zoology 259: 301-308.

Carbone, C. & Gittleman, J.L. (2002) A common rule for the scaling of carnivore density. Science 295: 2273-2276.

Wikelski, M., Carbone, C., Bednikoff, P., Choudhury, S. & Tebbich, S. (2001) Why is Female Choice not Unanimous? Insights from Costly Mate Sampling in Marine Iguanas. Ethology 107: 623-638.

Carbone, C., Christie, S., Coulson, T., Franklin, N., Ginsberg, J., Griffiths, M. , Holden, J., Kawanishi, K., Kinnaird, M., Laidlaw, R., Lynam, A., Macdonald, D.W., Martyr, D., McDougal, C., Nath, L., Obrien, T., Seidensticker, J., Smith, D., Sunquist, M., Tilson, R. and Wan Shahruddin W.N. (2001) The use of photographic rates to estimate densities of tigers and other cryptic mammals. Animal Conservation 4: 75-79.

Cristol, D.A., Baker, M.B. and Carbone, C. (1999) Differential migration revisited: Latitudinal segregation by age and sex classes. Current Ornithology 15: 33-88.

Carbone, C., Mace, G.M., Roberts, S.C. & Macdonald, D.W. (1999) Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores. Nature 402: 286-288.

Carbone, C., du Toit, J.T. & Gordon, I.J. (1997) Feeding success in African wild dogs: does kleptoparasitism by spotted hyaenas influence hunting group size? Journal of Animal Ecology 66: 318-326.

Carbone, C. & Houston, A.I. (1996) The optimal allocation of time over the dive cycle: an approach based on aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Animal Behaviour 51: 1247-1255.

Carbone, C. de Leeuw, J.J. & Houston, A.I. (1996) Adjustments in the diving time budgets of tufted duck and pochard: is there evidence for a mix of metabolic pathways? Animal Behaviour 51: 1257-1268.

Wikelski, M., Carbone, C. & Trillmich, F. (1996) Lekking in marine iguanas: Female grouping and alternative male reproductive strategies. Animal Behaviour 52: 581-596.

Carbone, C. & Taborsky, M. (1996) Mate choice or harassment avoidance? A question of female control at the lek. Behavioral Ecology 7: 370-373.

Carbone, C. & Houston, A.I. (1994) Patterns in the diving behaviour of the pochard Aythya ferina: a test of an optimality model. Animal Behaviour 48: 457-465.

Houston, A.I. & Carbone, C. (1992) The optimal allocation of time over the dive cycle. Behavioral Ecology 3: 255-265.

Black, J.M., Carbone, C., Wells. R.L. & Owen, M. (1992) Foraging dynamics in goose flocks: the costs of living on the edge. Animal Behaviour 44: 41-50.
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Current Research Group:

PhD students:

Ian Craigie, NERC Funded PhD. Assessing the Effectiveness of Protected Areas in Biodiversity Conservation, University of Cambridge.

Robin Curtis, NERC Funded PhD. Resource limitation in butterflies: implications for macroecology and conservation, UCL, London.

Tola Oni, NERC Funded PhD. The determinants of tiger occurrence and population viability in fragmented landscapes, Imperial College, London.

Lisa Signorile, NERC Funded PhD. Genetic and ecological determinants of the expansion of grey squirrel populations across Europe, Imperial College, London.

Jennifer Crees, NERC Funded PhD. Dynamics of large mammal range collapse and extinction: evidence from the Holocene record of Europe, Imperial College, London.

Murray Collins, NERC/ESRC Funded PhD. Protecting Peat: Linking carbon credits and biodiversity conservation in Indonesia, London School of Economics, London.

Miguel Soares, PhD, Funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal. Change and adaptability in the tropics: Felids adaptation to a changing world. University of Aveiro, Portugal

Oliver Wearn, PhD, Funded by, The SAFE Project – Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems. Mammalian community structure and dynamics across spatio-temporal gradients of land-use intensity in Malaysian Borneo. Imperial College, London.

Julieta Decarre, PhD, Funded by Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Argentina. The effects of agricultural Intensification on small mammals in Entre Ríos, Argentina.
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Recent Alumni:

Dr. Sonya Gowtage-Sequeira, The importance of jackals and domestic dogs for the transmission of generalists canid pathogens to sympatric carnivores in Namibia, University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Emily Fitzherbert, Pigs, palms, people and tigers: integrating conservation and commerce in Sumatra, UEA, Norwich.

Dr. Nathalie Cooper, Macroevolution of mammals, Imperial College, Silwood.

Dr. Amy Dickman, The determinants of human-carnivore conflict in Tanzania, UCL, London.

Dr. Maurus Msuha, Human Impacts on Carnivore Biodiversity Inside and Outside Protected Areas in Tanzania, UCL, London.

Dr. Joe Smith, Habitat requirements of Sumatran mammals in human altered landscapes, Imperial College, Silwood.

Dr. Esteban Payan, Jaguar and puma ecology and conservation in Colombia, UCL, London.
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Collaborators:

Macroecology studies:

Jim Brown
Walter Jetz
John Gittleman
David MacDonald
Georgina Mace

Wild dog feeding ecology:

Johan du Toit
George Schaller

Tiger conservation:

John Seidensticker

Life History and Body Size Evolution in Marine Iguanas:

Martin Wikelski
Peter Bednekoff
Tim Coulson
Iain Gordon