About me

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Liverpool, United Kingdom
I am interested in how we can use DNA sequences to understand biodiversity – how do we recognise species, and how are species related at taxonomic, ecological and geographic levels? My passion for biodiversity research has led me from the world’s largest natural history collection - Natural History Museum, London, where I completed my MSc, to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario - global centre for the international Barcode of Life, as a PhD student, and to the hyper-diverse tropics of Southeast Asia. The tropics will be the first regions to experience historically unprecedented climates and this will happen within the next decade. Consequently my recent research has focussed on understanding the effects of urbanisation and climate change on tropical and subtropical biodiversity - encompassing both species richness and ecological integrity across a diversity of taxonomic groups.

May 1, 2017

TEACHING UPDATES APRIL 2017

An article about a fieldtrip posted on my College's Website:
http://icb.cau.edu.cn/article/content/view?id=3600

Visit to Carbon Neutral House, Beijing Olympic Forest Park, by UCD Environmental Science Students

Those of us living on the CAU East Campus are fortunate that our campus is located just a few minutes away from Olympic Forest Park. Designed and constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Olympic Forest Park is the largest urban park in Beijing and has become a model for sustainable urban development and water management in the 21st century. Perhaps the most striking feature of Olympic Forest Park is the large artificial wetlands which provide a sophisticated biological water treatment system, as well as habitat for wild and endangered species, particularly birds.

In the modern world our buildings are the major source of our demand for energy - accounting for more than 40% of energy demand - and within our buildings, heating is the foremost consumer of energy. We all know that our current energy resources - coal, oil, gas - are running out fast and that burning these resources is the cause of air pollution and the greenhouse effect. Reducing energy consumption is an urgent priority, and energy efficiency is often called the “sixth fuel”. On 17th April a group of freshmen students from the UCD Environmental Science course visited the “Carbon-Neutral House” at Olympic Forest Park to learn more about modern technologies being used to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency in buildings.

Keen to display our environmental credentials we arrived at Olympic Forest Park by public transport – we went by Beijing Subway, but there are also many buses, and it is actually walking distance from CAU East Campus if you have enough time. From the South Gate subway station we walked around the edge of the Dragon Lake to the Carbon Neutral House. It was wonderful weather to walk in the park, and on the way we were able to admire some of the spring flowers which Olympic Forest Park is also famous for. The entrance to the Carbon Neutral House is not easy to find, being on the far side of the building from the path, but this adds to the effect of entering a peaceful retreat where you can escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Inside the Carbon Neutral House visitors are free to explore a small display area, showcasing innovations and new technologies for sustainable living. These include LED lighting systems, robust modern furniture made from straw, intelligence systems designed to optimize the internal environment, building materials for extremely insulated walls, and double glazing. One of the highlighted products is the house’s own sophisticated heating and cooling system which relies on waste water as a source of energy and incorporates as series of very small tubes which can be embedded in the internal walls of the building. The Carbon Neutral House also relies on solar panels for its electricity. Many of these products on display are manufactured by members of the Zhongguancun Green Building Alliance.


While we were all impressed by these technologies and can see the advantages they offer, it still seems a long way off before these can be incorporated into an “average” Chinese home as the prices are very high. However, the shining example of the city of Rhizhao, where 99% of households get hot water and space heating from renewable energy sources gives us reason to be optimistic about the future.