School of Environmental Sciences
Raoul Davion
AB Princeton, MSocSci Kwa-Zulu Natal, GradCert Orn CSU
Completing the graduate certificate program in ornithology at Charles Sturt deepened my interest in avian systematics and helped to prepare me to enroll in a research degree. My interests focus on patterns of diversity in arboreal Couas in Madagascar. A large proportion of Madagascar's aviafauna is endemic, and their patters of distribution, variation and biogeography are still being understood. Studying these patterns within the comparatively widely distributed clade of arboreal Couas may offer insights relevant to other Malagasy avian taxa and help set priorities for conservation. This project represents a new field of inquiry for me as my career path has generally involved work in the field of international development.
Thesis topic
Patterns of diversity in arboreal Couas
Supervisors
- Assoc Prof David Watson
- Dr Gary Luck
- John Bates (Field Museum of Natural History)