Role
Dr Samantha Bremner-Harrison is the Course Leader for the MSc / MRes Endangered Species Recovery and Conservation postgraduate degree. She leads and/or teaches on the following Masters modules:
- Species Recovery: Theories, Methods and Techniques
- Captive Breeding and Husbandry
- Conservation Genetics
- MSc/MRes Research Project
Dr Bremner-Harrison contributes to the following Undergraduate level modules
- Zoo Conservation and Education
- Introduction to Zoology
Research areas
Areas of research include individual behavioural variation in a variety of species and the application of behavioural variation to conservation.
- Behaviour and conservation: application of population / individual level variation in behaviour to improve conservation strategies. Study species include swift fox, California Channel Island fox, San Joaquin kit fox, Telfair's skinks and wood mice.
- Behavioural variation in response to environmental selection pressures: Investigating population-level and localised responses to environmental selection pressures.
Opportunities arise to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD in the areas identified above. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/research-degrees-at-ntu
External activity
- Member of IUCN: Reintroduction Specialist Group
- Member of the Nottinghamshire Reintroduction Forum
- Member of the International Society for Applied Ethology
- Member of the Kit Fox Subteam of the San Joaquin Valley Recovery Team
- Member of the Integrated Island Fox Recovery Team
- Member of the Animal Behavior Society
- Member of the Association of the Study of Animal Behaviour
- Member of the Mammal Society
- Reviewer for Journal of Wildlife Management, Conservation Biology, Zoological Studies, Behavioral Ecology, Acta Theologica, Animal Conservation, Zoo Biology
Sponsors and collaborators
Current and previous research is being conducted with the collaboration, funding and / or support of the following organisations
- Central Valley Project Conservation Program
- US Bureau of Reclamation
- US Fish and Wildlife Service
- California State University, Stanislaus Endangered Species Recovery Program
- Mauritius Wildlife Foundation
- National Parks and Conservation Service (Mauritius)
- Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
- Chicago Zoological Society – Brookfield Zoo
University collaborations: University of Stockholm, Imperial College London; University of Nottingham.
Publications
An investigation into the effect of individual personality on re-introduction success, examples from three North American fox species: swift fox, California Channel Island fox and San Joaquin kit fox. Bremner-Harrison S, Cypher BL, and Harrison SWR, in Soorae PS (ed.) Global Re-introduction Perspectives: 2013. More case studies from around the globe, Gland, Switzerland: IUCN/SSC Re-introduction Specialist Group and Abu Dhabi, UAE: Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
Resource use overlap between urban carnivores: Implications for endangered San Joaquin kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis mutica). Harrison S, WR, Cypher BL, Bremner-Harrison S and Van Horn Job C. Urban Ecosystems, 2011, 14 (2), 303-311
Reintroducing San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) to vacant or restored lands: identifying optimal source populations and candidate foxes. Bremner-Harrison S and Cypher BL, Central Valley Project Conservation Program, 2011, p8
Changes in kit fox defecation patterns during the reproductive season: Implications for noninvasive Surveys. Ralls K, Sharma S, Smith DA, Bremner-Harrison S, Cypher BL and Maldonado JE, Journal of Wildlife Management, 2010, 74 (7), 1457 – 1462
Press expertise
- Animal behaviour
- Animal personality
- Reintroduction
- Species conservation