The central islands of Indonesia, between Java, Bali and Kalimantan (Borneo) on the west and Papua on the east - are a living laboratory for the study of evolution, known as the Wallacea region. Here an ‘invisible line’ separates the great Indo-Malayan and Australasian biogeographical realms. Millions of years of relative geographical isolation have allowed fascinating and highly endemic fauna to evolve here, making it a biodiversity hotspot. In this talk, Steph will discuss the distribution and structure of this diversity with particular focus on bat communities; where they occur, their ecology and the impacts of land use change.

Biography

Dr Steph Courtney Jones is a Research Assistant on the ‘Living on the edge: how do Australian plants cope with extreme temperature?’ ARC Linkage project based in the Nicotra – Plant Physiology Research Group at The Australian National University. Steph was awarded a PhD in ecology from the University of Wollongong in October 2017. Her PhD research investigated the role of phenotypic variation in captive breeding programmes and how this may impact reintroduction success. Using various physiological and behavioural techniques for conservation applications, her research examines the effect of environmental change on phenotypic traits and communities, and examine the use of conservation technology for wildlife management across changing landscapes in Australia and south east Asia.