IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 36 Issue 2 (April 2019)
OSG Group Members News
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New Members of OSG
Since the last issue, we have welcomed 17 new members to the OSG. Members of the Otter Specialist Group can read more about them in the Members-Directory (requires ID and password).
Mari-Lisa Allson, UK: I recently graduated from the University of Exeter with a First Class Master in Science with Honours in Animal Behaviour. I fell in love with otters while conducting my fourth year research project where I looked at their rock juggling behaviour and am excited to contribute to otter conservation and study their behaviour further.
Aditya Banerjee, India: For my Master’s disssertation, I worked on the effect of invasive water hyacinth on smooth-coated otter habitat use in the Tungabhadra River, Karnataka, India. I am now a research assistant, currently working on a project looking at the ecological impact on fish and fish-eaters of river damming in the Western Ghats. I will soon begin looking ath the distribution, status and habitat use of Lutra lutra, Lutrogale perspicillata and Aonyx cinereus in the north-east Indian state of Meghalaya, funded by Wildlife Reserves Singapore following the 2019 International Otter Congress.
Jeric Gonzalez, Philippines: I am an instructor at Romblon State University. I conducted the first and only study on the illegal trade of otters in the Philippines and have extensive experience in the local traffic routes and trade flow of the small-clawed otter in Palawan and Luzon. My local knowledge of the trade and wildlife hunting in Palawan and contribution to the understanding of the IWT and the implementation of possible mitigation action in relation to CITES has helped significantly in planning conservation of otters in the Philippines.
Xuesong Han, China: I am from ShanShui Conservation Center, China, and now by serving as the leader of the wetland project in the Sanjiangyuan Office, I am in charge of the investigation, research and conservation of the Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra, the Black-necked Crane Grus nigricollis and the Chinese Mountain Cat Felis bieti, among which the status of the Eurasian Otter is our major concern.
Vanessa Herrenz Muñoz, Cambodia: My childhood dream was to study rare cat species in Southeast Asia. I studied Zoology at the University of Bristol (UK), and during my MSc, as well as working at zoos and rescue centers in Spain, I also developed an interest for other small carnivores and their inter-specific relationships. I founded a conservation NGO in Spain and later on I learned about legislation working as technical writer for the European Commission. Since 2016 I run an independent project focused on fishing cat in Cambodia (Kla trey | Cambodian Fishing Cat Project). Sharing habitat and threats, otters have now become integral part of our project, and I am extending our work to cover Smooth-Coated and Hairy-Nosed Otters..
Jordan Martinez-Smith, USA: I recently graduated in Zoology, and am starting a career in otter conservation. I have interned with Istituto Ekko Brasil, looking after captive otters as well as helping with field work. I then interned with Monterey Bay Aquarium in their animal care department, working with sea otters.
Karen McDonald, USA: After a Masters in Biology, and working as a Nature Center Manager and Park Naturalist, I have been Education Program Coordinator at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center for the last twelve years. Over the last year, I have been focusing educational programs at the Center around otters.
Wayne McFee, USA: I am a research wildlife biologist with 26 years of experience working for the NOAA National Ocean Service in Charleston, SC USA. We would like to add otters to our portfolio of Key Species as indicators of coastal ocean health, and will continue to focus on contaminants and pathogens for all key species.
Trevor McIntyre, South Africa: I have been undertaking and facilitating research on the ecology and conservation of otters in South Africa over the past few years, supervising many students and junior researchers. I also participated in the OSG conference in China, am a part of the African Otter Network, and intend on hosting an AON workshop early in 2020.
Madeleine Nedelcu, Austria: I am a biology student at University of Vienna. While interning with Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Spain, I did the first study ever done on the diet and ecology of Lutra lutra in O Grove. I am particularly interested in wild otters of Southeast Asia, particularly their social behaviors and management of habitat in proximity to humans
Annabel Pianzin, Malaysia: As part of the SAFE Project in Sabah (one of the largest ecological projects in the world), I am working on the distribution and occupancy of Eurasian and Hairy-Nosed Otters across human-modified landscapes (oil palm plantations), focussing on otter use of different habitats in reserve areas. This will also provide a baseline when the experimental area of SAFE is converted to oil palm plantation. I also work for the Malaysia Nature Society, and hope to create an Otter Team as well as starting education and outreach activities.
Victoria Priestley, United Kingdom: All living things shed DNA into the environment and this can be sampled and used to detect species presence, infer abundance and profile entire communities. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is particularly useful when looking for rare, elusive or hard-to-reach species as it does not rely on 'seeing' them, but instead looking for genetic clues to their presence. Victoria is a PhD student at Imperial College, researching how environmental DNA can be used to survey and monitor otters. Her focus has to-date been on the Eurasian otter, but her plan is to develop the method for giant river otters and potentially Asian otter species too.
Simon Rohner, Germany: I am a vet at the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Northern Germany, working on otter necroscopy for population health monitoring. I am also a volunteer otter surveyer and involved in education and outreach activity
Amanda Suzzi, USA: I am a geography student at the University of Massachusetts, about to start my doctorate on habitat suitability and biogeographical range of North American River Otters in Massachusetts. I am also interested in creating GIS maps to support otter research.
Anna Wong, Malaysia: I am a senior lecturer at the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, supervising a masters student working on otter distribution in Sabah, and collaborating with international researchers in the SAFE Project area,Kalabakan, Sabah. I chair the Sabah branch of the Malaysia Nature Society, and hope to be part of the upcoming Malaysia/South East Asia Otter Group.
Woo Chee Yoong, Malaysia: Currently, I am working as Wildlife Research Assistant in Malaysian Nature Society, MNS, on niche overlap and partitioning between the Hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana), Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus) in the Kuala Selangor Nature Park, Selangor, Malaysia. I also hope to train a cadre of local people to be otter spotters. it is the plight of the Hairy-Nosed Otter that first got me into conservation, and I fear it could quietly go extinct wihout being noticed.
Lu Zhang, China: An associate researcher from Sun Yat-sen University, I started to work on otters since 2016. With colleagues and students I conduct field work at three sites in China, including the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve in Sichuan, the Sangjiangyuan National Park in Qinghai, and the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. Currently we focus on collecting basic information on otter populations, including distribution range, population size, diet, and habitat selection. We determine otter distribution through transect survey, camera trapping, and environmental DNA. We collect fecal samples to conduct genetic mark-recapture analysis to determine otter population size, and to investigate the diet of otters using fecal DNA and a metabarcoding approach.