Tom Lewis

Thomas is part of the NERC funded ACCE (Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment) doctoral training programme at the University of Sheffield, where he is supervised by Dr Dylan Childs. Thomas is working with Chester Zoo and Costa Rican NGO Macaw Recovery Network to investigate how bioacoustic technology can be used to answer basic ecological questions about challenging species, such as the endangered great green macaw (Ara ambiguus). Additionally, he is attempting to measure the effects of habitat loss and degradation on the species productivity.

“In conservation, some species get over-looked simply because they are difficult to work with. The great green macaw is one of these species. We lack a basic information about their population size, seasonal movements and breeding ecology. With incredible new technologies being brought online all the time, we are now in a position to try and find out this vital information.

There is currently no robust methodology to count parrots. If we are to monitor the effectiveness of any conservation management, it is critical to be able to monitor population trends. My work will use autonomous bioacoustic monitoring to provide data to estimate the great green macaw population size in Costa Rica.

Using bioacoustics, I am also investigating whether it is possible to identify individual macaws just from their calls, something that could enable non-invasive tracking of individuals over their life-times.

The final part of my project is using drones to help investigate nest site selection to determine whether selection and productivity are linked or not. Drones are vital in order to efficiently survey dense forest for emergent trees with cavities, where macaws nest.

All together my project will provide vital basic information for future conservation planning of the great green macaw and develop methodologies that can be more broadly applied to other parrot species.”

Supervisors

Dr Dylan Childs (Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK)

Dr Andrew Beckerman (Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK)

Professor Ben Hatchwell (Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK)

Dr Simon Tollington (Chester Zoo)

Dr Sam Williams (Macaw Recovery Network, Costa Rica)

Publications:

Lewis, C.T., Melo, M., de Lima, R.F. and Bremner-Harrison, F., 2018. Habitat associations of the Critically Endangered São Tomé Fiscal Lanius newtoni: comparing standard and playback-confirmed point counts. Afr. J. Ecol, 56(2), pp.404-408.

Wright, T.F., Lewis, T.C., Lezama-Lopez, M., Smith-Vidaurre, G. and Dahlin, C.R., 2019. Yellow-naped Amazon Amazona auropalliata populations are markedly low and rapidly declining in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Bird Conservation International, 29(2), pp.291-307.