PHIL SEDDON

PHIL SEDDON is an Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of Otago with more than three decades of expertise in wildlife conservation. A globally recognized leader in ecological restoration and biodiversity management, Phil has worked on critical projects from saving endangered black stilts and takahe in New Zealand to protecting wild camels in Mongolia, Bali Mynah in Indonesia, and the Northern Bald Ibis in Europe.

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A founding member of the field of reintroduction biology, Phil is a trusted advisor to governments and NGOs around the world, helping to shape national and international biodiversity policy. His extensive research and practical work span ecological restoration, pest species control, protected area management, and ecotourism planning.

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Phil’s career has taken him across the Arabian Peninsula, southern Africa, and Oceania, and his leadership is further recognized as a Fellow of the New Zealand Royal Society Te Apārangi and a prominent member of the IUCN World Conservation Union’s Species Survival Commission.

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LECTURE TOPICS

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NEW ZEALAND

Ghosts of Gondwana - are New Zealand’s species ancient relicts or recent arrivals?

New Zealand’s unique wildlife developed over 85 million years of isolation when New Zealand broke away from the Gondwana supercontinent. Species such as tuatara, kakapo, frogs, and the now-extinct moa were part of this ancient Gondwana fauna. Other species have arrived over time from Australia, even including skinks, which somehow made the long journey over the sea.

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Islands of Biodiversity: from offshore to ecosanctuary

New Zealand has around 600 islands, from the large North and South islands, and Rakiura/Stewart Island, to many offshore islands. Conservation of native species initially focused on predator-free offshore islands, but increasingly we see the creation of “mainland islands”, areas on the large islands that have predator-exclusion fences within which native species can be reintroduced. One of the most well-known of these ecosanctuaries is Zealandia in the heart of the capital city of Wellington.

 

Return of the Marine Mammals

New Zealand’s coastlines are filling up with fur seals and sealions as population rebound after overharvest in the 1800s. Around south-eastern South Island female sealions cross beaches and roads to give birth to their pups, while young male sealions play tag with surfers. Out in the seas around New Zealand are whales, including orca, sperm whale, and blue whale, and dolphins, including the rare Hector’s dolphin.

 

Seabird Kingdom

From penguins to albatrosses, New Zealand is a land of seabirds and home to both the rarest penguin in the world, the hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin, and the most northern breeding site for the majestic royal albatross, near Port Calmers in Dunedin. Here we look at the range of seabirds in New Zealand and what makes seabirds special – we consider questions such as, how do albatross not touch land for up to 6 years at a time, and how do penguins dive so deep in search of their food?

 

A Shaking Land of Fire and Ice

The landforms of New Zealand have been shaped by volcanoes, glaciers, and earthquakes, and even today all three of these forces operate. Of particular interest, assuming we don’t have an earthquake soon, are the incredible ice-carved valleys that have been flooded by the sea, forming the sheer cliffs, and plunging dark waters of Fiordland, and home to a surprising range of species, from penguins to black corals.

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GENERAL SCIENCE

Smile for the camera! How new camera technology is revealing the secret lives of animals

Some wildlife species are large, colorful, numerous, or all three and so very easy to see, but many other species are small, cryptic and wary of humans, preferring to conduct their business in secret. Biologists are using hidden cameras and even animal-borne cameras to reveal the secret lives of animals. But it’s not just biologists who want to photograph wildlife – we are seeing the rise in “wildlife selfies”, people taking photos of themselves posing with wild animals. This can not only be dangerous, it can be stressful for the animals and can create unreal expectations for how we should behave around wild animals.

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A history of conservation translocations, and the giant tortoises of the Seychelles

Conservation translocations, such as reintroducing species back into their natural habitat, have been part of the conservation toolkit for over 100 years. More recently the spectrum of translocation activities has increased to include moving species outside their natural range in response to climate change or introducing near-relative species to perform the ecological role of an extinct species.

 

Synthetic biology for conservation: how new technology might solve our conservation challenges?

New genetic and genomic tools are transforming agriculture and medicine and could be used to tackle some of our hardest conservation challenges. There is the potential now to engineer species to resist disease, help coral cope with increasing temperatures, or enable species adapt to changing environments. We might even be able humanely to eradicate invasive mice from islands or get rid of avian malaria-carryingmosquitos. But this new technology raises some interesting social, ethical and moral questions.

 

Is this the end of extinction? Could de-extinction technology see the return of the dodo?

If the media is to be believed we might soon see the return of long extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, the passenger pigeon, or even that icon of extinction, the dodo – long lost from Mauritius. What is de-extinction, how does it work, and does it really mean the end of extinction?

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MIDDLE EAST/INDIAN OCEAN

Africa meets Eurasia: the wildlife of the Arabian Peninsula and the return of unicorns

The surprisingly varied wildlife of the Arabian Peninsula is a mixture of African species, such as leopards and hyenas, with Eurasian species such as foxes and wolves. But these species have undergone some truly amazing adaptations to the heat and dryness of the deserts. However, one Arabian endemic species found nowhere else, the Arabian oryx, the possibly origin of the myth of the unicorn, has evolved to be a true desert dweller. Hunted to near extinction last century, the Arabian oryx has made a remarkable recovery – a real conservation success story.

 

From subsistence to global significance: the amazing transformation of the Arabian Peninsula

The discovery of oil early last century brought about almost unbelievable economic, social, and cultural change to the Arabian Peninsula region, catapulting what were once fishing villages, agricultural settlements, and tribes of nomadic herdsmen, into a modern world of skyscrapers and city dwellers. This has come at some environmental cost, but new programs are aiming to restore desert ecosystems, wetlands, and coastal areas, and the species that inhabit them.

 

The lemurs of Madagascar

Madagascar separated from all other landmasses over 80 million years ago so many of the species there evolved in complete isolation. Today nearly 90% of Madagascar’s wildlife is endemic, meaning it is found nowhere else on Earth, leading to the island being classified as a biodiversity hotspot. One of the most iconic groups of endemic Madagascan animals are the lemurs – over 100 species of them. Lemurs are Madagascar’s flagship mammal species.