Congratulations to Daniel A. Villar

Congratulations to Daniel Villar, who defended his thesis on Thursday, 20th of March 2025 on the conservation and ethno-ornithology of the Titicaca Grebe.

       Daniel successfully defended his thesis, entitled ‘Ecology and Conservation of the Titicaca Grebe (Rollandia microptera)’ with Examiners Prof Fausto O Sarmiento (Univ. Georgia, USA) and Dr Katrina Davis (Oxford). Incorporating ethnographic as well as ecological methodology and conducted over the course of four years in Peru and Bolivia, the research, supervised by Prof Andrew Gosler (EGI, Oxford) and Dr Jorgelina Marino (WildCru, Oxford) presents the first comprehensive study of the status, ecology and threats to the endangered flightless Titicaca Grebe. The research has already produced nine published papers, nearly doubling the number of publications on this species, and detailing basic ecology such as the timing of breeding as well as undertaking current and historical isotopic analyses of diet. Ethno-ornithological study disclosed the attitude of locals ranging from love through indifference to hatred depending on their involvement in fishing on the lake. These findings are significant for the future of this species whose main threat is as fishery bycatch. Daniel has recently started a post-doc at the University of Durham, but will remain a member of the EWA group as a Research Associate.