Activities and research interests

Arjun Amar is an Avian Conservation Biologist with a focus on raptor conservation. He grew up in Nottingham, England and obtained a BSc Hons in Zoology from Newcastle University. Following research on Augur Buzzards in Kenya, Montugu’s Harriers in France and Common Buzzards in Scotland and the South of England, he carried out his PhD research examining the cause of the dramatic decline of a population of hen harriers on the Orkney Islands (Scotland), which was awarded in 2001 from Aberdeen University. Arjun then worked as a post-doctoral scientist for the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, undertaking research to help resolve the long standing conflict between hen harrier conservation and red grouse shooting on the Grouse moors of England and Scotland. In 2003, a post-doc position with the US Fish and Wildlife Service then took Arjun to the tiny Pacific Island of Rota, one of the Northern Mariana Islands, where he undertook research on the declining critically endangered Mariana Crow. For the last six years Arjun has worked as a Senior Conservation Scientist for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds based at both their UK and Scottish Headquarters.

Arjun’s research interests lie in understanding the processes that regulate animal distributions, demography and population dynamics, and applying this understanding to the conservation biology of declining populations. He is particularly interested in establishing causes of population declines, understanding the mechanisms that drive these declines and identifying appropriate remedial management to reverse or prevent these trends. His research has included work on raptors, waders and passerines in the uplands, woodland birds, lowland waders, and tropical forest birds and bats. Other research has focused on human-wildlife conflicts and he has published a number of papers surrounding the raptor-gamebird conflict. He sits on the grants review panel for the British Ecological Society and is an associate editor of Animal Conservation and Ibis.

Research programmes

Raptor Research Programme, Rarity & Conservation of African Birds

Current students

Post-doctoral

Ralf Mullers: Conservation of Shoebills Balaeniceps rex in the Bangweulu Wetlands (Supervisor: Arjun Amar).

Doctoral

Sonja Krüger: Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus meridionalis population dynamics and conservation in the 21st Century (Supervisors: Arjun Amar & Rob Simmons).

Lisle Gwynn: The identity, origin and impact of a 'new' Buzzard species breeding in South Africa (Supervisors: Phil Hockey and Arjun Amar).

Conservation Biology Masters

Lovelater Sebele: The influence of climate, age and experience on the productivity of a winter breeding bird (Supervisor: Arjun Amar)