Patterns in detection rates of Swiss amphibians: Just how well can we believe our eyes… and what does this mean for amphibian species monitoring?
Invited Talk at Info Fauna Karch Herpetology Colloquium, Bern, Switzerland
CV
Education
- B.Sc. in Natural Sciences, University of Bath, 2011
- M.Sc in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation, Imperial College London (Silwood Park), 2013
- Ph.D in Ecology, University of Zürich, 2017
Research experience
- 2018 - present: Postdoctoral Researcher (working 50-80%)
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
- Research Group: Ecosystem Dynamics
- Project: Making the most of monitoring data: A comprehensive analysis of amphibian breeding success across Switzerland, and what it can tell us about management and monitoring.
- Project: Predicting amphibian population dynamics from remote sensing-derived habitat quality
- Supervisor: Dr. Ariel Bergamini
- 2018: Researcher
- University of Zürich
- Project: Comparisons of error rates for eDNA and traditional surveys for detecting amphibian occupancy
- Supervisor: Dr. Benedikt Schmidt
- 2014 - 2017: PhD Thesis
- University of Zürich
- Research Groups: Conservation Biology of Amphibians, Population Ecology
- Project: Dealing with uncertainty in amphibian and reptile population monitoring for conservation
- Supervisor: Dr. Benedikt Schmidt, Prof. Arpat Ozgul
- Committee: Prof. Rolf Holderegger, Prof. Lukas Keller
- 2012 - 2013: Masters Thesis
- Imperial College London
- Zoological Society of London
- Project: Should the Leopard (frog) change it’s spots: An investigation into factors associated with parasitism in the Northern Leopard Frog
- Supervisor: Prof. Trent Garner, Dr. David Orme
- 2010 - 2011: BSc Thesis
- University of Bath
- The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
- Project: Spatio-temporal invertebrate community dynamics in response tothe management of Calluna heathland
- Supervisor: Dr. Mark O’Connell, Dr. Barbara Smith
- 2009 - 2010 Research Assistant
- The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
- Farmland Ecology Unit
- Duties: Designing and conducting field trials, invertebrate identification, data analysis
- Supervisor: Dr. John Holland, Dr. Barbara Smith
Other employment
- 2012 Ecologist
- AECOM, Croydon, UK
- Duties: species surveys, conducting amphibian and reptile translocations, ensuring contractor compliance wth environmental legislation on development sites
- 2011 Field Ecologist
- Aspect Ecology Ltd., Banbury, UK
- Duties: Species survey work, implementing species mitigation actions including species translocations
Grants and Awards
- 2018: Federal Office for the Environment, Switzerland. (CHF 40,000)
- 2016: Georges and Antoine Claraz Foundation Donation, Switzerland (CHF 770)
- 2014: Artenschutz Foundation Research Grant , Germany (EUR 6,000)
- 2013: Imperial College Fieldwork Travel Grant, UK (GBP 500)
Presentations
Dealing with uncertainty in population monitoring for conservation
Invited Talk at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Dealing with uncertainty in population monitoring for conservation
PhD Defense at Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Estimating population size and demographic rates from count data: Panacea or pipe dream?
Talk at Amphibian Conservation Research Symposium, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Designing monitoring programs that can infer species absence: how much effort is enough?
Talk at British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Liverpool, UK
False positives and false negatives in citizen science monitoring data: should we be worried?
Talk at Amphibian Conservation Research Symposium, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
False positives and false negatives in citizen science monitoring data: should we be worried?
Talk at British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, UK
Testing whether conservation action works: Does the creation of stepping-stone ponds increase dispersal?
Talk at Amphibian Conservation Research Symposium, University of Cambridge, UK
Testing whether conservation action works: Does the creation of stepping-stone ponds increase dispersal?
Invited Seminar at Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Quantifying population declines for Red Lists based on historic presence records
Talk at Joint British Ecological Society/Société française d'écologie Annual Meeting, Lille, France
Now you see me, now you don’t: Why population trends should account for imperfect detection
Poster at Amphibian Conservation Research Symposium, ZSL, London, UK
Should the (Leopard) frog change it’s spots? An investigation of the factors involving parasitism in Rana pipiens
MSc Defense at Department of Life Science, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Sunningdale, UK
Publications
Quantifying data quality in a citizen science monitoring program: False negatives, false positives and occupancy trends
Cruickshank, S.S., Bühler, C. and Schmidt, B.R. (2019). Quantifying data quality in a citizen science monitoring program: False negatives, false positives and occupancy trends. Conservation Science and Practice. e54
Habitat-driven life history variation in an amphibian metapopulation
Cayuela, H. , Cruickshank, S.S., Brandt, H., Ozgul, A. and Schmidt, B.R. (2019). Habitat-driven life history variation in an amphibian metapopulation. Oikos. 128: 1265–1276
Quantifying climate sensitivity and climate-driven change in North American amphibian communities
Miller, D.A.W., Grant, E.H.C, Muths, E., Amburgey, S.M., Adams, M.J., Joseph, M.B., Waddle, J.H., Johnson, P.T. J., Ryan, M.E., Schmidt, B.R., Calhoun, D.L., Davis, C.L., Fisher, R.N., Green, D.M., Hossack, B.R., Rittenhouse, T.A.G., Walls, S.C., Bailey, L.L., Cruickshank, S.S., Fellers, G.M., Gorman, T.A., Haas, C.A., Hughson, W., Pilliod, D.S., Price, S.J., Ray, A.M., Sadinski, W., Saenz, D., Barichivich, W.J., Brand, A., Brehme, C.S., Dagit, R., Delaney, K.S., Glorioso, B.M., Kats, L.B., Kleeman, P.M., Pearl, C.A., Rochester, C.J., Riley, S.P.D., Roth, M., Sigafus, B.H. (2019). Quantifying climate sensitivity and climate-driven change in North American amphibian communities. Nature Communications. 9(1):3926
Decision-making for mitigating wildlife diseases: From theory to practice for an emerging fungal pathogen of amphibians
Canessa, S., Bozzuto, C., Grant, E.H.C, Cruickshank, S.S., Fisher, M.C., Koella, J.C., Lötters, S., Martel, A., Pasmans, F., Scheele, B.C., Spitzen-van der Sluijs, A., Steinfartz, S. and Schmidt, B.R. (2018). Decision-making for mitigating wildlife diseases: From theory to practice for an emerging fungal pathogen of amphibians. Journal of Applied Ecology. 55(4): 1987–1996
Error rates and variation between observers are reduced with the use of photographic matching software for capture-recapture studies
Cruickshank, S.S., and Schmidt, B.R. (2017). Error rates and variation between observers are reduced with the use of photographic matching software for capture-recapture studies. Amphibia-Reptilia. 38(3): 315–325
Quantitative evidence for the effects of multiple drivers on continental-scale amphibian declines
Grant, E.H.C., Miller, D.A.W., Schmidt, B.R., Adams, M.J., Amburgey, S.M., Chambert, T., Cruickshank, S.S., Fisher, R.N., Green, D.M., Hossack, B.R., Johnson, P.T.J., Joseph, M.B., Rittenhouse, T.A.G., Ryan, M.E., Waddle, J.H., Walls, S.C., Bailey, L.L., Fellers, G.M., Gorman, T.A., Ray, A.M., Pilliod, D.S., Price, S.J., Saenz, D., Sadinski, W., Muths, E. (2016). Quantitative evidence for the effects of multiple drivers on continental-scale amphibian declines. Scientific Reports 6:1–9.
Quantifying population declines based on presence‐only records for red-list assessments
Cruickshank, S.S., Ozgul, A., Zumbach, S. and Schmidt, B.R. (2016). Quantifying population declines based on presence‐only records for red-list assessments. Conservation Biology. 30(5): 1112–1121