IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 38 Issue 2 (March 2021)
OSG Group Members News
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Membership Review
We have completed the review of membership necessary at the beginning of each new Quadrennium of the IUCN/SSC. The Otter Specialist Group contains 324 members at 7th April 2021.
New Members of OSG
Since the last issue, we have welcomed 5 new and 1 returning new members to the OSG: you can read more about them on the Members-Only pages.
Rosanne Adey, UK: For my degree, I studied prey in otters on the Isle of Mull. Since then, I have studied otter interaction and tourism effects on local otters on Benbecula, where I now live, and where I am currently building an otter rehabilitation centre, which will also facilitate survey training, and teach rehabilitation techniques.
Sarah du Plessis, UK: I am a PhD student with the Cardiff University Otter Project, undertaking a research project using genomics to study the history of the Eurasian otter specifically in the UK. I am a part of the team at Cardiff University conducting weekly post-mortems of road killed otters, maintaining a long term dataset across the UK from 1994 to present day. We collect measurements, observations, and samples of a range of tissues.
Georgina Kelly, UK: I am a senior ecologist, working as the aquatic species lead, overseeing mitigation surveys for otter, water vole and riparian habitats on HS2 Phase 1, a large railway project in the south of England. I am a member of the River Restoration Centre and in the process of gaining accreditation with the RRC to carry out River Habitat Surveys (RHS). I was both an ecologist and wildlife guide for five years based on the Isle of Mull in the Western Isle. s.My main interest is otter behaviour, as further understanding of this enhances the quality of surveys. Much of our knowledge of Eurasian otter behaviour has been gleaned from studies into coastal populations which impacts the interpretation of river based data, and in turn, poses a major limitation on the mitigation strategies imposed on developments.
Danielle Lima, Brazil: I have worked on neotropical and giant otters since 2001, and now monitor areas impacted by large projects in the Amazon. Since 2006, I have lived in Amapá State, where we carry out distributional inventory in the region, in addition to documenting conflicts.
Barbara Macfarlane, UK: I am an ecologist proficient in survey techniques and long term camera trapping as well as developing mitigation plans to protect otters during unavoidable developments. I am also a marine mammal medic with British Divers Marine Life Rescue and through the course of this work, am liaising with the Scottish SPCA to identify suitable release sites for rehabilitated otters.
Emily O'Rourke, UK: I am currently completing my PhD with Cardiff University Otter Project, focussing on chemical contaminants in otters, looking at a range of contaminants from the largely banned legacy compounds to the more emerging groups (e.g., PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, PBDEs, PFAS and pharmaceuticals). I also take an active role in the running of the Otter Project, organising and undertaking the post mortems on the otters we receive from across Britain. For the last three months I have been working as the Project Officer on a grant funded by the Wales Trunk Roads Agency with the aim of developing a more coordinated approach to recording and preventing otter road mortalities across Wales.