Jack Shutt

I am a postdoctoral researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University working in ecology and conservation. I am a lifelong birder and much of my work to date has focused on birds, with a particular theme of discovering how forest species react to mounting modern-day pressures such as habitat loss, anthropogenic disturbance, and climate change, with a view to providing conservation solutions.

My current interest is in modelling the distribution changes and community shifts of birds in the eastern Amazon, an area that is experiencing rapid and widespread change, with many threats to biodiversity including forest conversion to agriculture, habitat fragmentation, and fire. I am also involved in researching the effects of climate change on woodland ecosystems in Scotland. To work on these questions, I use an array of statistical modelling techniques combined with GIS to analyse data collected through field work as well as from partnerships with citizen science schemes.

My neotropical work is undertaken in collaboration with researchers from the Sustainable Amazon Network and Lancaster University, and includes the use of eBird data. I also have links with the Phenoweb project based at the University of Edinburgh and various project partners in the RSPB, BTO, and Woodland Trust.