Rachel L. White

Rachel L. White
University of Brighton · School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences

PhD Biodiversity Management

About

42
Publications
28,988
Reads
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694
Citations
Introduction
I am an early-career academic with research expertise encompassing: applied (avian) ecology and conservation, patterns and drivers of trait variation and extinction risk, and environmental education. Collectively, my research aims to better understand the impacts of both threatening processes and conservation actions on wildlife and people. I’m passionate about finding effective ways to engage members of the public (particularly children) in the natural world, and I enjoy the challenges and benefits from utilising citizen science based research approaches. I am a strong proponent of evidence-informed conservation and research transparency.
Additional affiliations
January 2016 - present
University of Brighton
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
June 2014 - present
University of Brighton
Position
  • Lecturer in Ecology & Conservation
September 2013 - May 2014
University of Kent
Position
  • Research Assistant
Education
September 2010 - September 2013
University of Kent
Field of study
  • Biodiversity Management
September 2008 - September 2009
Independent Researcher
Independent Researcher
Field of study
  • Conservation Science
September 2005 - September 2008
Durham University
Field of study
  • Zoology

Publications

Publications (42)
Preprint
Full-text available
Scientific communities need to understand and eliminate barriers that prevent scientists from reaching their full potential. However, the combined impact of individuals’ linguistic, economic, and gender backgrounds on their scientific productivity is poorly understood. Using a survey of 908 environmental scientists, we show that being a woman is as...
Article
Full-text available
Wildlife management can generate social conflict when stakeholder perceptions of the target species are not considered. Introduced Ring-necked Parakeets (RNP) are established in the UK and have been added to the ‘general licence’ of birds that can be killed to prevent serious economic damage. We aimed to better understand perceptions of RNPs on a n...
Article
Full-text available
Species reintroductions are an increasingly popular conservation tool, typically aiming to achieve direct conservation benefits. Socio-cultural drivers also exist but have, to date, received very little attention in research and policy. As a case study, we focus on the recent and ongoing reintroduction of the white stork Ciconia ciconia to England,...
Preprint
Full-text available
Wildlife management propositions can generate social conflict when stakeholder perceptions of the target species are not taken into account. Introduced Ring-necked Parakeets (RNP), which are established in the UK, have been added to the ‘general licence’ of birds that can be killed to prevent serious economic damage. We aim to better understand pub...
Article
Full-text available
The global legal wildlife trade is worth US$4–20 billion to the world's economy every year. Raptors frequently enter the wildlife trade for use as display animals, by falconers or hobbyists for sport and recreation. Using data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora's (CITES) Trade Database, we exami...
Article
Full-text available
Research-focussed experiential learning (RFEL), where students develop academic research skills by participating in research activities, is a valuable and widespread component of higher education. It is also a potentially important source of research currency for academic staff in teaching-focussed universities. Numerous initiatives facilitate this...
Article
Full-text available
1. Stakeholder acceptance and support is essential for long-term success in species reintroductions, and assessing social feasibility of reintroductions within human-occupied landscapes is an integral component of effective decision-making. 2. The Dalmatian pelican Pelecanus crispus is an extirpated British bird, and possible pelican reintroduction...
Preprint
Full-text available
The use of English as the common language of science represents a major impediment to maximising the contribution of non-native English speakers to science. Yet few studies have quantified the consequences of language barriers on the career development of researchers who are non-native English speakers. Our survey demonstrates that non-native Engli...
Article
In many social species physical attributes correlate with dominance rankings and influence the outcomes of dyadic interactions. We investigated the processes that affect white rhinoceros’ social behaviour in response to a reduction in horn size asymmetries within a group of subadult individuals. We monitored agonistic social interactions and the or...
Article
Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic influences of movement behavior in migratory species, with the potential to recommend management actions for species of conservation concern, requires data from across the species' range. For some raptor species, such as the red kite (Milvus milvus; kite), existing data focus on breeding populations or movement...
Article
Full-text available
1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence‐based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an...
Article
Full-text available
The white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is experiencing unsustainable poaching losses fuelled by a demand for horn. Increasingly, private and state reserves are dehorning their rhinoceros populations in an attempt to reduce poaching pressure. Rhinoceroses use their horns in social interactions as well as during resource access and so its partial...
Article
Full-text available
Plants are under‐represented in conservation efforts, with only 9% of described species published on the IUCN Red List. Biodiversity aggregators including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the more recent Botanical Information and Ecology Network (BIEN) contain a wealth of potentially useful occurrence data. We investigate the...
Article
Full-text available
We currently face significant, anthropogenic, global environmental challenges and the role of ecologists in mitigating these challenges is arguably more important than ever. Consequently there is an urgent need to recruit and train future generations of ecolo- gists, both those whose main area is ecology, but also those involved in the geological,...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding the factors influencing the establishment of non-native species is pivotal with regards to the development of effective biosecurity policies. In this paper, we aim to assess the role of climate matching, trade patterns and breeding origin as drivers of establishment success of introduced lovebirds (Agapornis species). A comprehensive...
Article
Full-text available
Does dehorning lead to a change in inter-calf intervals in free-ranging white rhinoceros?
Article
Full-text available
The numbers and impacts of non-native species (NNS) continue to grow. Multiple ranking protocols have been developed to identify and manage the most damaging species. However, existing protocols differ considerably in the type of impact they consider, the way evidence of impacts is included and scored, and in the way the precautionary principle is...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The global wildlife trade poses an increasing threat to the world’s biota and one-fifth of the global wildlife trade is fuelled by the demand for animals used as pets and for entertainment purposes. We used CITES trade data from 1975-2015 to quantify the global legal commercial trade in live raptors and owls. Our results showed that the number of t...
Article
Full-text available
Poaching fuelled by international trade in horn caused the deaths of over 1000 African rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum and Diceros bicornis) per year between 2013 and 2017. Deterrents, which act to establish avoidance behaviours in animals, have the potential to aid anti-poaching efforts by moving at-risk rhinos away from areas of danger (e.g. near...
Article
Full-text available
Globally, the number of invasive alien species (IAS) continues to increase and management and policy responses typically need to be adopted before conclusive empirical evidence on their environmental and socioeconomic impacts are available. Consequently, numerous protocols exist for assessing IAS impacts and differ considerably in which evidence th...
Article
Urbanization threatens biodiversity and people’s opportunities to interact with nature. This progressive dis-connection from the natural world is profoundly concerning as it affects human health, wellbeing, attitudes and behaviors towards nature. Increasing the quantity of experiences of nature (EoN) can enhance health and wellbeing benefits, but i...
Article
Full-text available
When we speak about conserving nature, we are really talking about taking care of our future, because nature provides essential resources for our survival and enjoyment. We asked an international group of scientists working on different environmental issues worldwide to identify important practical actions that we can all do to help conserve nature...
Preprint
Full-text available
The use of crowdsourced data is growing rapidly, particularly in ornithology. Citizen science greatly contributes to our knowledge, however, little is known about the reliability of data collected in that way. We found, using an online picture quiz, that self-proclaimed expert birders were more likely to misidentify common British bird species as e...
Article
Full-text available
A peer-reviewed open-access journal NeoBiota Rachel L. White et al. / NeoBiota 48: 45-69 (2019) 46 Abstract Globally, the number of invasive alien species (IAS) continues to increase and management and policy responses typically need to be adopted before conclusive empirical evidence on their environmental and socioeconomic impacts are available. C...
Article
Full-text available
Children nowadays, particularly in urban areas, are more disconnected from nature than ever before, leading to a large-scale “extinction of experience” with the natural world. Yet there are many potential benefits from children interacting with nature first-hand, including via outdoor learning opportunities. Urban environmental education programmes...
Data
Pre- and post-project questionnaires and associated coding. (DOCX)
Data
Complete closed-answer pre- and post-project questionnaire results. (XLSX)
Data
Teacher project evaluation and long-term follow-up questionnaires. (DOCX)
Data
“Bird Buddies” engagement workshop and bird monitoring protocols. (DOCX)
Data
Supplementary results. Summary statistics for sociodemographic attributes of participants (Table A). Species included in identification test and seen during bird surveys (Table B). Results of paired Wilcoxon signed rank tests between pre- and post-project bird identification scores per sociodemographic factor (Table C). Percentage of children at ea...
Data
Example open-answers from teacher project evaluation questionnaire. (DOCX)
Article
Full-text available
Background Alien species are one of the major causes contributing to biodiversity loss. In Europe, over 340 alien bird species have been recorded in the wild, of which 74 are established. Among 12 established alien parrot species in Europe, the Rose-ringed Parakeet (RRP) Psittacula krameri is the most abundant and widespread. Objective Although on...
Article
Full-text available
Advances in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge over the last decade have dramatically reshaped the way that ecological research is conducted. The advent of large, technology-based resources such as iNaturalist, Genbank, or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) allow ecologists to work at spatio-temporal scales previously u...
Article
Full-text available
Mountainous regions are hotspots of terrestrial biodiversity. Unlike islands, which have been the focus of extensive research on extinction dynamics, fewer studies have examined mountain ranges even though they face increasing threats from human pressures - notably habitat conversion and climate change. Limits to the taxonomic and geographical exte...
Article
Full-text available
Tourism development is one of the main contemporary drivers of habitat loss and fragmentation within the Caribbean Islands biodiversity hotspot. In Saint Lucia, construction of a hotel and golf course within coastal dry forest is directly threatening the largest known subpopulation of the Endangered White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus....

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