Dr Jon Bielby

Curriculum Vitae:

• May 2009: Post-doctoral research assistant on ‘RACE: Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European amphibian biodiversity’ project.
• 2008-2009: Conservation Programme Manager of ZSL’s UK and Mainland Europe conservation programme.
• 2004-2008: NERC PhD candidate, Imperial College London/IoZ.
• July 2004–September 2004: Field volunteer on Tsaobis Baboon Project .
• May 2004–July 2004: Research Assistant on the "Alliance for Zero Extinction" project.
• 2002-May 2004: Research Assistant (NERC funded), Institute of Zoology.
• 2000-2001: MSc Biodiversity and Conservation (with Distinction), University of Leeds.
• 1995-1998: BSc (Hons) University of Hull.
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Research Interests:

My research explores how life-history, ecology and threat intensity interact in order to determine the conservation status of a species. I am interested in using the rules-of-thumb obtained in such analyses to prioritise and direct conservation management options, and in assessing those options in order to implement cost-effective conservation.

Although many such studies are conducted at a global-scale, using the IUCN Red List as a measure of extinction risk, I am presently developing methods and techniques to conduct similar analyses at finer taxonomic and geographic scales with a view to providing guidance for conservation at the level of policy and land-managers.

The global amphibian decline and the role of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in these declines and extinctions provide an excellent system for the development of species and population risk assessments and for scientifically robust prioritisation lists to be developed and implemented.
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Publications:

Bielby, J., Cardillo, M., Cooper, N., Purvis, A. (2009) Modelling extinction risk in multispecies data sets: phylogenetically independent contrasts vs. decision trees, Biodiversity and Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-009-9709-0.

Bielby, J., Bovero, S., Sotgiu, G., Tessa, G., Favelli, M., Angelini, C, Doglio, S, Clare, F.C., Gazzaniga, E., Lapietra, F. and Garner, T.W. (2009) Fatal Chytridiomycosis in the Tyrrhenian Painted Frog. EcoHealth, May 2009, DOI: 10.1007/s10393-009-0232-2

Bielby, J., Cooper, N., Cunningham, A.A., Garner, T.W.J. and Purvis, A. (2008) Predicting declines in the world’s frogs. Conservation Letters 1(2): 82-90.

Bielby, J., Mace, G.M., Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P., Cardillo, M., Gittleman, J.L., Jones, K.E., Orme, C.D.L. and Purvis, A. (2007) The fast-slow continuum in mammalian life-history: an empirical reevaluation. American Naturalist 169(6): 748-757.

Bielby, J., Cunningham, A.A., Purvis, A. (2006) Taxonomic selectivity in amphibians: ignorance, geography or biology? Animal Conservation 9: 135-143.

Rödder, D., Kielgast, J., Bielby, J., Schmidtlein, S., Bosch, J., Garner, T.W.J., Veith, M., Walker, S.F., Fisher, M.C., and Lötters, S. (2009), “Global Amphibian Extinction Risk Assessment for the Panzootic Chytrid Fungus”, Diversity 1:52-66.

Jones, K.E., Bielby, J., Cardillo, M., et al., (2009) PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals, Ecology 90(9): 2648.

T.M. Doherty-Bone, Bielby, J., Gonwouo, N.L., LeBreton, M., Cunningham, A.A. (2008) In a vulnerable position? Preliminary survey work fails to detect the amphibian chytrid pathogen in the highlands of Cameroon, an amphibian hotspot. Herpetological Journal 18:115-118.

J. Schipper, et al. (inc. J.Bielby) (2008) The Status of the World's Land and Marine
Mammals: Diversity, Threat, and Knowledge. Science 322: 225.

T. J. Davies, Fritz, S.A., Grenyer, R., Orme, C.D.L., Bielby, J., Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P., Cardillo, M., Jones, K.E., Gittleman, J.L., Mace, G.M., and Purvis, A. (2008) Phylogenetic trees and the future of mammalian biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(Supplement_1): 11556–11563.

M. Cardillo, Mace, G.M., Gittleman, J.L., Jones, K.E., Bielby, J., Purvis, A. (2008) The predictability of extinction: biological and external correlates of decline in mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society 275(1641): 1441-8.

Cooper, N., Bielby, J., G. Thomas, G., Purvis, A. (2008) Macroecology and extinction risk correlates in frogs. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17: 211-221.

Cardillo, M., Mace, G.M., Jones, K.E., Bielby, J., Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P. Sechrest, W., Orme, C.D.L. and Purvis, A. (2005) Multiple causes of high extinction risk in large
mammal species. Science 309: 1239-1241.

Ricketts, T.H., Dinerstein, E., Boucher, T., Brooks, T.M., Butchart, S.H.M, Hoffmann, M., Lamoreux, J.F., Morrison, J., Parr, M., Pilgrim, J.D., Rodrigues, A.S.L., Sechrest, W., Wallace, G.E., Berlin, K., Bielby. J., Burgess, N.D, Church, D.R., Cox, N., Knox, D., Loucks, C., Luck, G.W., Master, L.M., Moore, R., Naidoo, R., Ridgely, R., Schatz, G.E., Shire, G., Strand, H., Wettengel, W., and Wikramanayake, E. (2005) Pinpointing and preventing imminent extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – US 102(51): 18497-18501.

Cardillo, M., Purvis, A., Sechrest, W., Gittleman, J.L., Bielby, J., Mace, G.M. (2004) Human population density and extinction risk in the world's carnivores. PLoS Biology 2(7): 909-914.

Croft, D.P., Arrowsmith, B.J., Bielby, J., Skinner, K., White, E., Couzin, I.D., Magurran, A.E., Ramnarine, I., and Krause, J. (2003) Mechanisms underlying shoal composition in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata. Oikos 100: 429-438.
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Editorial Positions:

Associate Editor, Animal Conservation
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Journal Reviewer:

Journals include: African Journal of Herpetology, American Naturalist, Animal Conservation, Biological Conservation, Conservation Biology, Global Ecology and Biogeography, Herpetological Review, PLoS Biology, Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B - Biology, Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
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Press Links:

Radio BBC 4 Frontiers Programme: ‘Amphibian Collapse?’
Chytrid Fungus Q&A
Chytrid fungus in the UK feature on CBBC’s ‘Newsround’.
Where have all the primates gone?