Dr Jolyon Troscianko

I'm currently working on this project investigating the types of camouflage that ground nesting birds have evolved to evade predation of their eggs and chicks. This work uses a range of species, primarily nightjars, plovers and coursers found in Zambia and South Africa.

By modelling the visual systems of different potential predators we can use digital photographs to assess the effectiveness of various camouflage strategies and link this with survival and habitat selection.

My time is spent collecting data in the field with Jared, and further developing the modelling tools we use to process the data with Martin. This work is in collaboration with Dr Claire Spottiswoode in Cambridge. I have also developed motion-triggered video cameras to catch natural predation events in order to determine what the birds' main predators really are.