Operation Wallacea
Tom Brown is a dedicated herpetologist currently working at Kanahau Utila Research & Conservation Facility since January 2016, inspiring appreciation for the unique herpetological diversity of Utila Island. Tom also conducts herpetofauna surveys with Operation Wallacea, focusing on data collection and research in the Merendon Mountains, Honduras. Experience includes organizing outreach and fundraising initiatives at Plymouth University, and conducting comprehensive amphibian population surveys that contributed to conservation efforts in threatened national parks. With a background that includes volunteer surveying and hands-on experience in animal care, Tom holds a degree in Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth and has a strong foundational knowledge acquired from previous educational endeavors.
Operation Wallacea
Operation Wallacea is a series of biological and social science expedition projects that operate in remote locations across the world. These expeditions are designed with specific wildlife conservation aims in mind - from identifying areas needing protection, through to implementing and assessing conservation management programmes. Large teams of university academics, who are specialists in various aspects of biodiversity or social and economic studies, are concentrated at the target study sites. Research Assistants and dissertation students joining the surveys have the option of customising their own itinerary from a range of training and science options. The surveys result in a large number of publications in peer-reviewed journals each year, have resulted in 30 vertebrate species new to science being discovered, 4 'extinct' species being re-discovered and $2 million levered from funding agencies to set up best practice management examples at the study sites. These large survey teams of academics and volunteers that are funded independently of normal academic sources have enabled large temporal and spatial biodiversity and socio-economic data sets to be produced, and provide information to help with organising effective conservation management programmes.