Staff, Students & Associates

Doctoral Students

Jessica Shaw BSc (Hons) (Edinburgh), MSc (Cape Town) John Day Building: 2.18 Tel: +27 (0)21 650 3306 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: jessica.shaw@uct.ac.za

Jessica graduated with a BSc in Ecological Sciences (Honours in Wildlife Management) from the University of Edinburgh in 2003. While in Scotland, she worked as an assistant warden with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and was involved with a Scottish Natural Heritage project assessing the potential impacts of releasing beavers in western Scotland. After completing her degree, Jessica had a number of jobs to help fund further conservation work experience, and her travels through Australia, Europe and South America. In 2006, she joined a team at the Universidad National Del Sur in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, trapping and radio tracking native carnivores to learn more about this little studied group.

Jessica grew up in Botswana and was keen to return to Africa, so came to the Fitz in 2008 to enrol in the Conservation Biology Masters programme. While on this course, she became particularly interested in bird and power line interaction research in South Africa, having previously worked with birdstrike risk at easyJet in the UK. Her MSc project looked at the impact of power line collisions on the Blue Crane population in the Overberg, using GIS models to inform proactive mitigation. She is now furthering this interest by investigating Ludwig’s Bustard, another species that is heavily impacted by power lines, for her PhD.

Thesis

Conservation biology of Ludwig’s Bustard (Supervisors: Peter Ryan & Andrew Jenkins)

Ludwig’s Bustard Neotis ludwigii is near-endemic to southern Africa, and thought to be in decline because of mortality caused by collisions with overhead power lines. Ludwig’s Bustards are particularly susceptible to collision because they are large and heavy, and lack the sufficient manoeuvrability to avoid unexpected obstacles. The extent of power lines within the range of this species is vast and expanding, and there is an urgent need to quantify power line related mortality, and to assess the impacts that collisions are having at the population level. It is also critical to improve our understanding of movement patterns and visual perception of these birds in order to develop and implement effective mitigation measures.

Recent peer-reviewed publications

2011

Jenkins, A.R., Shaw, J.M., Smallie, J.J., Gibbons, B., Visagie, R. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Estimating the impacts of power line collisions on Ludwig’s Bustards Neotis ludwigii. Bird Conservation International 21:303-310. IF 1.138

2010

Martin, G.R. & Shaw, J.M. 2010. Bird collisions with power lines: failing to see the way ahead? Biological Conservation 143:2695-2702. IF 3.167

Shaw, J.M., Jenkins, A.R., Smallie, J.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Modelling power-line collision risk for the Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus in South Africa. Ibis 152:590-599. IF 2.123

Shaw, J.M., Jenkins, A.R., Ryan, P.G. & Smallie. 2010. A preliminary survey of avian mortality on power lines in the Overberg, South Africa. Ostrich 81:109-113. IF 0.254