Jeremy Dickens

• Sustainable use of natural resources
• Biodiversity

• Brazil
• Peru
• Colombia
• Panama
• Ecuador

Prior to joining ZEF in 2021 I consulted on the Global Aquatic Health Index project by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). From 2019-21 I worked as a research associate for GroundTruth CC, South Africa, on river bioassessment methods and citizen science tools. From 2016-18 I was Museum Curator then Scientific Director at Para La Tierra, a conservation NGO in Paraguay, where I designed and implemented research projects (mostly biodiversity surveys), supervised intern projects, and managed the scientific collections, specimen collection and preparation. Between 2008-11 I undertook several environmental research internships (vac work), including for the AfroMaison Integrated Natural Resources Management case study in the Enkangala grasslands / Drakensberg, South Africa at IWMI and the Institute of Natural Resources (INR), the Wetland Buffers Project, Low-P Project and River Health Programme at the INR. As a field biologist, I conducted numerous bird ringing surveys in 2013-15 at the Hydroelectric Schemes at Jirau (ARCADIS Logos) and Tabajara (JGP) in Rondônia, Fazenda Fartura (MZUSP) in Mato Grosso/ Pará, Boracéia Biological Station in São Paulo, freshwater ecosystem health monitoring in the Okavango Delta, Botswana (INR), 2011, and Tenke Fungurume Copper mine, DRC (GroundTruth CC), 2010, and botanical surveys in Hluhluwe Game Reserve (UCT), 2009 among others. I have also worked extensively as a Portuguese-English translator and English text reviewer, and from 2011-12 volunteered extensively for WWOOF organic farms, eco-lodges, travel outlets, and as a bird/ tour guide in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

MSc in Systematics, Animal Taxonomy, and Biodiversity, Zoology Museum of the University of São Paulo (2013-15)

BSc (Honours) in Zoology, University of Cape Town (2010)

BSc in Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Cape Town (2007-09)

Bioassessment, Ornithology, Ecosystem Science (Forest Ecology)

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst/ German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT)

Developing an Avian Index of Lowland Tropical Forest Health for South & Central America with Remote Sensing and Crowdsourced Bird Data Applications

Sustainable forest use and management, conservation and restoration are key solutions to the serious problems caused by tropical forest loss and degradation, including the loss of biodiversity, ecosystem services, local livelihoods (especially of indigenous peoples), and climate change. However, current forest indicators lack any information on the condition of biological communities they contain or ecosystem function, whilst the lack of information on biotic conditions also makes it difficult for both production enterprises and conservation and restoration projects to track their impacts. We therefore aim to develop an avian index of forest health for lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests in South & Central America as a rapid assessment tool of ecological conditions and anthropogenic threats for use by professionals and citizen scientists alike and suitable as an indicator of forest health for the SDGs and Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework. We then hope to apply the index to massively crowdsourced bird observation data, namely ebird.org, to generate an interactive online map of forest conditions and threat levels at scale. To do this, we will first create the scoring system, allocating sensitivity scores to anthropogenic threats for all species in the region using the scientific literature and expert elicitation, followed by validation with field surveys of birds, forest features, threats, and select ecosystem services in cooperation with local partners at sites at varying degrees of degradation in 3-4 ecoregions. The output tools are intended to support sustainable forest use, conservation, and restoration with the potential to halt/ reverse forest loss and degradation.

Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister (ZEF, Academic Profile)

Prof. Yadvinder Malhi (Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University, Academic Profile, personal website)

Dr. Alexander Lees (Manchester Metropolitan University, Academic Profile, personal website)

Dr. Jan Henning Sommer Academic Profile