About the project
PhD opportunity to investigate the impact of environmental change on tropical montane bats in Malaysia. The project combines ecological research methods and pollen analysis to study bat community composition, pollination network, and environmental influences. Ideal for candidates with a background in tropical ecology.
This PhD project aims to investigate the effects of environmental change, particularly deforestation and climate change, on tropical montane bats in Malaysia. Montane forests, crucial for maintaining biodiversity, are being rapidly degraded, posing significant threats to species that rely on these habitats. The project will focus on understanding how bat communities respond to varying levels of habitat disturbance and environmental changes.
The research involves three key elements:
- assessing bat community composition and diversity across different levels of forest disturbance, using mist nets and acoustic monitoring
- identifying key floral resources in the landscape based on pollen analysis of bat carried pollen and how these key resources differ across different habitat types
- determining the environmental factors affecting bat communities and predicting future changes using GIS and ecological niche modeling
This project offers intensive fieldwork experience in two highlands of Peninsular Malaysia, Fraser’s Hill and Cameron Highlands. You will have access to world-class facilities and interdisciplinary opportunities, with supervision from leading experts in forest ecology, conservation, and molecular biology.
The impact of this work is significant: it will provide essential data to inform conservation strategies in high-risk biodiversity hotspots, helping to protect vulnerable bat species and their habitats. This research will contribute to our understanding of the broader impacts of environmental change on tropical ecosystems and offer practical solutions for mitigating these effects, making a tangible difference in conservation efforts.
This project has the following external supervisors, in addition to the University of Southampton's supervisory team:
- Chong Leong Puan (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
- Malcolm Soh (Singapore National Parks Board)
