Professor Robbie McDonald

Chair in Natural Environment

Role

Professor Robbie McDonald was appointed Chair in Natural Environment at the Environment and Sustainability Institute in September 2011 and took up his post in January 2012. 

Robbie’s research interests are in animal ecology, wildlife management and conservation and resolving human-wildlife conflicts. He was appointed to continue a strong theme of work in wildlife management and conservation, and to develop a programme of applied, interdisciplinary work that will help Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the South-West and the UK develop in an economically and environmentally sustainable way. As a member of the Biosciences department, he will work as part of the ESI’s interdisciplinary teams and will continue his close collaborations with natural scientists in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (at the University of Exeter Cornwall Campus), and pursue a programme of co-operative wildlife research with the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA).

Profile

After his first degree in BSc (Hons) Marine and Environmental Biology at St Andrews (1991, First Class) Robbie won a Fulbright Scholarship and Bobby Jones Fellowship to visit the US National Parks Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, while there he worked on pronghorn antelope population biology in Yellowstone, sustainable harvesting of American martens in Yukon-Charley Rivers in Alaska and sea otter foraging in California. He then worked for a short while for Oxford’s WildCRU tracking jackals in Zimbabwe before winning a Wingate Scholarship from the University of Bristol (1998) for a PhD on the effects of wildlife management on stoats and weasels. In 2000 he took a Royal Society postdoctoral fellowship to New Zealand to work on ecology and management of invasive stoats. He returned to work for the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust before moving to Queens University Belfast in 2003 where he led the start-up of Quercus, Northern Ireland’s Research Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology.  Robbie was Editor-in-Chief of Mammal Review for several years and for a time was Vice-President of the International Federation of Mammalogists. In 2007, he moved to Defra’s Central Science Laboratory, now the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), where he led programmes involving up to 100 scientists dealing with wildlife ecology and management.  Prior to his appointment to the ESI in September 2011, Robbie was Head of Wildlife Science and Deputy Chief Scientist for FERA.

Academic and research interests

Robbie's research interests are in animal ecology, wildlife biology and the resolution of human-wildlife conflicts. He has a particular interest in mammal ecology and small carnivores in particular, having worked on various ecological, evolutionary and ecotoxicological aspects of the biology of the Mustelidae (the weasel family). He has developed interests in the impacts and management of invasive species and was the lead on the Invasive Species in Ireland policy review that was adopted by both governments in Ireland and led to the development of a remarkable and ongoing cross-border invasive species initiative. For the last few years he has led work on the science, policy and practical implications of bovine tuberculosis in badgers, and as a result has developed interests in wildlife vaccination, biosecurity and the importance of social structure and disease control in wildlife.

Until his appointment as Chair in Natural Environment at the ESI, Robbie was Visiting Professor in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation where he has a number of long-standing collaborations, in particular with Professor Stuart Bearhop, with whom he developed a programme of work using stable isotopes as tools to understand biological invasions, ecotoxicological processes, behavioural responses to wildlife management and a host of other application in mammals and birds.

Selected Publications

The following recent papers illustrate the breadth of Robbie’s research interests:

Mill, A.C., Rushton, S.P., [...] & McDonald, R.A., (2012) Farm-scale risk factors for bovine tuberculosis incidence in cattle herds during the Randomised Badger Culling Trial Epidemiology and Infection 140  219-230
Bodey, T.W., Bearhop,S., & McDonald,R.A., (2012) Localised control of an introduced predator: creating problems for the future? Biological Invasions 13 2817-282
Reid, N., Wilson,G.J., Montgomery W.I., & McDonald R.A., (2012) Changes in the prevalence of badger persecution in Northern Ireland. European Journal of Wildlife Research 58  177-183
Gortázar, C., Delahay, R., McDonald R.A., et al. (2012) The status of tuberculosis in European wildlife. Mammal Review 42 193-206
Chambers, M.A.,  [...]McDonald, R.A., & Hewinson, R.G., (2011) BCG vaccination reduces the severity and progression of tuberculosis in badgers Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B  278 1913-1920
Bodey, T.W., McDonald,R.A., Sheldon R.D., & Bearhop, S., (2011) Absence of effects of predator control on nesting success of lapwings: implications for conservation. Ibis 153 543-555
Tosh, D.G., Shore,R.F., [...] & McDonald R,A., (2011) User behaviour, best practice and the risks of non-target exposure associated with anticoagulant rodenticide use. Journal of Environmental Management 92 1503–1508
Robb,G.N., McDonald, R.A., [...] & Bearhop, S., (2011) Using stable isotope analysis as a technique for determining individual use of consumption of supplementary foods in birds. Condor 113 475–482.
Tosh, D.G., McDonald, R.A., Bearhop, S., [...] & Shore, R.F., (2011) Does small mammal prey guild affect the exposure of predators to anticoagulant rodenticides? Environmental Pollution 159  3106-12
Bodey, T.W., Bearhop, S., [...] & McDonald, R.A., (2010) Behavioural responses of invasive mink Neovison vison to an eradication campaign, revealed by stable isotope analysis Journal of Applied Ecology 47 114–120
Inger, R., McDonald, R.A., [...] & Bearhop, S., (2010) Do non-native invasive fish support elevated lamprey populations? Journal of Applied Ecology 47 121–129
Reid, N., McDonald, R.A., & Montgomery, W.I., (2010) Homogeneous habitat can meet the discrete and varied resource requirements of hares but may set an ecological trap.Biological Conservation 143 1701-1706
Anderson, O.R.J., [...], McDonald, R.A., &Bearhop, S., (2010) Element patterns in albatrosses and petrels: Influence of trophic position, foraging range, and prey type Environmental Pollution 158 98–107
Marques, T.A., Buckland, S.T., [...] & McDonald, R.A., (2010) Point transect sampling along linear features. Biometrics 66 1247–1255
Bodey, T.W., McDonald, R.A., & Bearhop, S., (2009) Mesopredators constrain a top predator: Competitive release of ravens after culling crows Biology Letters 5 617–620
Anderson, O.R.J., […], McDonald, R.A.,  & Bearhop, S., (2009) Diet, individual specialisation and breeding of brown skuas (Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi): an investigation using stable isotopes. Polar Biology 32 27–33
Anderson, O.R.J., Phillips, R.A., McDonald, R.A.,  et al (2009) Influence of trophic position and foraging range on mercury levels within a seabird community Marine Ecology Progress Series 375, 277–288
McDonald, R.A., Delahay, R.J., Carter, S.P.,  et al (2008) Perturbing implications of wildlife ecology for disease control. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23 53–56
Robb, G.N.,  McDonald, R.A., [...] & Bearhop, S., (2008) Winter feeding of birds increases productivity in the subsequent breeding season Biology Letters 4 220–223
Trewby, I.D., Wilson, G.J., […]  & McDonald, R.A., (2008) Experimental evidence of competitive release in sympatric carnivores Biology Letters 4 170–172
McDonald, R.A., Birtles, R.J., McCracken, C., & Day, M.J., (2008) Histological and serological evidence of disease among invasive, non-native stoats Mustela erminea. Veterinary Journal 175 403–408
Crawford, K., McDonald R.A.,  & Bearhop, S., (2008) Applications of stable isotope techniques to the ecology of mammals. Mammal Review 38 87–107
Robb, G.N., McDonald, R.A., Chamberlain D.E., & Bearhop, S., (2008) Food for thought: Supplementary feeding as a driver of ecological change in avian bird populations Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6 476–484
Martinkova, N., McDonald. R.A., & Searle, J.B., (2007) Stoats (Mustela erminea) provide evidence of natural overland colonisation of Ireland Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274 1387–1393
Reid, N., McDonald, R.A., & Montgomery, W.I., (2007) Mammals and agri-environment schemes: hare haven or pest paradise? Journal of Applied Ecology 44 1200–1208
McDonald, R.A., O’Hara, K., & Morrish, D.J., (2007) Decline of invasive alien mink (Mustela vison) is concurrent with recovery of native otters (Lutra lutra) Diversity & Distributions 13 92–98
Reid, N., McDonald, R.A., & Montgomery, W.I., (2007) Factors associated with hare mortality during coursing Animal Welfare 16 427–434.

Qualifications  

1998 PhD, University of Bristol.  Thesis examining the effects of wildlife management on stoats and weasels.
1991 BSc Marine and Environmental Biology, St Andrews (First Class)

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