Nicholas B. Pattinson

My research career kicked off when I was able to secure an amazing opportunity to acquire my BSc. zoology honours under the supervision of Prof. Andrew McKechnie and Dr Susan Cunningham, which saw me conduct field work in both the Kalahari Desert in South Africa and the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, USA. After graduating I moved to Port Elizabeth, to take on a zoology masters supervised by Dr Ben Smit. For my masters I looked at the physiology and behaviour of the rufous-eared warbler (Malcorus pectoralis) in the Karoo semi-desert. After completing that I began a Ph.D. with the Hot Birds team, under the primary supervision of Dr Cunningham. My PhD looked at the thermal physiology and behaviour of the yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus leucomelas) during its reproductive season. My work builds on a large amount of amazing work done by Dr Tanja van de Ven during her Ph.D., and works towards understanding the potential impacts of climate change on summer breeding birds in arid environments.

In broad terms, I am interested in the natural environment, and conservation. Specifically, my interests lie in thermal ecology – how organisms deal with variable thermal environments – and how the relationship between organisms and their environments will change under climate change.