Team Bio

We are a dedicated group of researchers and volunteers from BirdsCaribbean, the largest bird conservation NGO in the Caribbean. Our team comprises leading regional wildlife ecologists and wildlife educators. Together our expertise includes field biology, quantitative ecology, audio analysis, database management and civil society engagement. We will use our BirdsCaribbean network to engage researchers in using bioacoustics to increase our understanding of endemics birds.

Howard Nelson

I am a University of Wisconsin-trained wildlife biologist and forester who has been working in the Caribbean for the last 26 years. I am passionate about wildlife conservation in the region, and about how we make the Caribbean a place where people can co-exist with, and benefit from, the regions unique wildlife. I’ve been working on birds in the Caribbean since 1989, and have been involved in Caribbean bird conservation through BirdsCaribbean since 1991 and was president from 2012-2014.

Over the past 2 decades my conservation work has taken me from the NGO sector as CEO of the Asa Wright Nature Centre, to government as an environmental policy specialist in Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of the Environment, and subsequently in academia, at the University of the West Indies-St Augustine and currently at the University of Chester, UK.

My areas of research include sustainable use of tropical wildlife, tropical forestry, endangered species management, conservation on island ecosystems, and sustainable livelihoods & community based conservation.

My involvement interest in this project began as the outcome of a workshop I chaired at the 2014 BirdsCaribbean biannual meeting in Jamaica. At that session, all the participants realised that we were beginning to see a troubling pattern among forest endemic birds of the region – we were lacking some of the most basic kinds of population information, we needed to actually conserve these birds. This project is a direct outcome of that meeting – and an effort to begin to address this issue.

Ellie Devenish-Nelson

I have been passionate about conserving Caribbean biodiversity since my first visit to Trinidad 15 years ago. I have been involved in avian, mammalian and vegetation research projects throughout the Caribbean ever since. My research interests are in quantitative ecology and threatened species ecology. I am interested in using long-term ecological data to bring new insights for wildlife conservation and management decision-making. I am keen to apply new techniques to answer conservation questions, and have been exploring the use of bioacoustics since we started making field recordings in Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada and Suriname several years ago.

I am currently a Teaching Fellow for on online MSc in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health at the University of Edinburgh and a Research Associate at the University of Chester, UK. Most recently, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Chester, modelling climate change impacts on dry forest habitats in Grenada. I have previously taught for the University of the West Indies online MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Caribbean. I completed my PhD at Durham University, and studied for an MSc in Conservation at University College London and a BSc in Zoology at the University of Leeds. I have been an active member and attended BirdsCaribbean regional meetings since 2008.

Mark Yokoyama

I am an American naturalist, author and wildlife educator residing on Saint Martin. I have a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and am a former President of the Oregon Entomological Society. I have spent the last six years documenting terrestrial biodiversity in the Lesser Antilles. I have published two editions of The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin, the first book of its kind on the island, and I am currently working on a guide to the terrestrial wildlife of Sint Eustatius.

I am co-founder and Treasurer of the non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer. Les Fruits de Mer activities include public wildlife events, e-books on wildlife subjects, short documentary films, and Amuseum Naturalis, a pop-up natural history museum. I have collaborated with a number of scientists and conservation organizations, and write a weekly column in The Daily Herald. My photographs have been published in dozens of books and publications, including The New York Times and The Economist.

My work is available for free download at http://www.lesfruitsdemer.com.