From Oxford University, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
30 March, 2012
WildCRU’s DPhil student, Joanna Bagniewska, was awarded the Acorn Ecology Best Student Presentation Prize at the recent Mammal Society Conference. There were a number of great talks at the event but Joanna’s presentation on the diving patterns of semi-aquatic, shallow-diving, small-bodied mammals was unanimously chosen as the winner. The head of the voting committee, Sue Searle from Acorn Ecology, said that Joanna’s presentation was not only informative and engaging, but also had the extra “spark” that the jury was looking for.
Joanna was presenting WildCRU’s research on American mink using miniaturised Time-Depth Recorders (TDRs), tiny devices which measure temperature and pressure over time. Using TDRs allows a precise determination of the diving behaviour of mink, as well as the examination of their activity patterns. The methods explored by Joanna and her colleagues can also be used in measuring the activity of other semi-aquatic mammals.