John F. McEvoy

Way back in 2017, while working at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) I was working on a trial of some dummy tracking units to see if we could successfully attach them to the tails of horses. That work progressed from using dummy tags to a full trial of working devices and novel attachment methods. We recently published the results in a new paper. It has taken a few years and a lot of work with my fantastic co-authors (particularly Katherine Mertes and Cath

You may remember that I've been working on a collaboration with the amazing Yaara Aharon-Rotman and Christa Beckman on a project investigating the use of torpor (a kind of short-term slow down of the metabolism to save energy, like a mini-hibernation) in passerine birds. We spent a lot of time in the woods in Armidale catching birds and equipping them with combined temperature recorders and VHF transmitters. We also took ambient temperature recordings from close to the roosts

In some previous work we carried out a survey of hunters and wildlife markets across Myanmar and found evidence of widespread hunting and sale of species across taxa, including critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, and near threatened species. As part of an ongoing project to understand and map the illegal wildlife trade within Myanmar, we conducted a review of available literature which has just been published. Myanmar sits at a junction between important bioregions

Some time ago I took part in an excellent workshop exploring ways to better utilise GIS data and analyses to understand and help tackle the global illegal trade in wildlife. The workshop was a multi-agency affair with representatives from government, NGOs and law-enforcement. Part of the proceeds of that workshop have recently been published and I was honored to be a co-author on the work. Governments, law enforcement and conservation scientists are collecting data on wildlif

I recently collaborated with the excellent Yaara Aharon-Rotman (rapidly becoming my most frequent co-author) on a new paper about migratory birds and their departure decisions when on migration. A major challenge for long-distance migratory birds is that they often rely on multiple sites along their migration route. Migratory birds time their movements to synchronize with resource availability en-route and most importantly on their breeding site. The cues these long-distance

Our team of elephant researchers have come together to produce a new paper on the spatial ecology of Asian elephants in Myanmar. This piece of work was lead by my good friend the talented Mr. Aung Nyein Chan who is one of the leading lights of elephant conservation in Myanmar and I couldn't be happier to see this paper coming to fruition after a lot of hard work. Asian elephant numbers are declining across much of their range driven largely by serious threats from land use ch

Over the last year I've been working with Yaara Aharon-Rotman and Christa Beckman on a project investigating the use of torpor (a kind of short-term slow down of the metabolism to save energy, like a mini-hibernation) in passerine birds. We spent a lot of time in the woods in Armidale catching birds and equipping them with combined temperature recorders and VHF transmitters. You can read the original post here. That work has resulted in a new paper just published in Frontiers

This month I was honoured to be invited to speak at the "Cåtedra Alfonso L. Herrera 2021" event for the Faculty Biological Sciences, The Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), Puebla Mexico. The invitation came through my dear friend and colleague Dr Palestina Guevara Fiore an incredible scientist working in the area of evolutionary ecology and sexual selection using guppies as a model species. My talk covered work done by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Insti

I just started and exciting new role with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). I will be working as a quantitative ecologist with the Land and Water team. The plan was to pack up the new adventure wagon and move to tropical Queensland to a city called Townsville (yes it is really the name of a place and not just the pretend city from the Power Puff Girls cartoon). Magnetic Island near Townsville, QLD Unfortunately, the continuing p

Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus giganteus) Fruit bats play a vital role in tropical ecosystems as pollinators and seed dispersers but are also potential vectors of zoonotic diseases. Many species of bats are known to host a range of zoonotic viruses, several of which have proven fatal to humans including rabies, Marburg, Nipah, and Hendra-viruses. More recently, bats have been identified as the natural host of several coronaviruses responsible for human fatalities including seve

I was lucky enough to be invited as a co-author on a recent study by the excellent Dr. Saeideh Esmaeili at Colorado State University. We...

A little while ago I started a collaboration with my good friends and colleagues at Australian National University looking at the...

I have just started an exciting new position with Bush Heritage Australia, one of the largest environmental NGOs in the country. Bush...

While at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute I had the great pleasure of working with Beatriz Lopez, one of the many interns...

Back in July I spent a few weeks in the field with Yaara Aharon-Rotman working on a project investigating the use of torpor (a kind of...

I was recently invited to give a seminar at the Centre for Integrative Ecology at Deakin University, Australia. I did my PhD at the CIE,...

Dr Yaara Aharon-Rotman at the University of New England recently invited me to join her on a nifty project looking at torpor in small...

We just wrapped up a fantastic residential course for post-graduates and professionals at the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation....

Over the past year we have been working on a project to understand and map illegal hunting and trade of wildlife in Myanmar. We have just...

​During my time at University of New England in Australia I worked on a waterfowl project with Paul McDonald and Graham Hall. We tracked...