GIBSON LAB

Luke is a conservation biologist from California now living in China. His research is centered in Asia, where he has been working since 2005 and which hosts the highest levels of endemism and the largest human populations. He studies fragmentation, green energy development, and wildlife trade, identifying the scenarios under which biodiversity suffers - or, in some cases, thrives - from such enterprises. He received his PhD from the National University of Singapore. He is a Young Thousand Talents Program scholar, and joined SUSTech’s School of Environmental Science and Engineering in 2017. He teaches Ecology on our Planet and Conservation in the Anthropocene to the next generation of Chinese scientists, business leaders, and policymakers, who will play a disproportionately large role in the future of our planet.

Lei Lv is an evolutionary ecologist primarily interested in how birds respond to environmental change, especially in light of ongoing climate change and land-use change. By using long-term individual-based field data, he tests how environmental factors influence breeding phenology, reproductive success, and individual mortality, overall examining how environmental change contributes to population dynamics. His current work investigates wetland bird species in Shenzhen Bay, and how they have responded to habitat disturbance and other environmental changes. The overarching goal of his work is to provide insight into our understanding of population decline in bird species, to predict future population dynamics in response to environmental change, and hence to guide appropriate management and conservation strategies.

Yating is in the SUSTech-Birmingham joint PhD program, co-supervised by Dr. Tom Matthews. She is interested in urbanization and fragmentation and associated impacts on biodiversity, particularly among coastal mangroves and migrant birds. Yating has also worked with the Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation (MCF), where she shares her knowledge of seashore wetlands with the public.

Jonathan is a conservation biologist from the UK. He is in the SUSTech-University of East Anglia joint PhD program, with Carlos Peres as co-supervisor. He completed his MRes at the University of Nottingham, studying indigenous communities and their relationship with mammals in Peninsular Malaysia. Previously, he has led wildlife monitoring surveys focused on small and large mammals across a wide range of forest habitats throughout Southeast Asia - from pristine primary forests to highly degraded human-dominated landscapes. His research has included clouded leopard surveys with WildCRU (Oxford University) and camera trap surveys with the TEAM Network.

Mu-Ming Lin is completing the University of Queensland-SUSTech Collaborative PhD, co-supervised by Professor Richard Fuller. A native to Taiwan, she received her BS and MS at National Taiwan University, where she studied the influence of tourists/birdwatchers' activities on the behavior and breeding performance of forest birds. She has also examined offshore wind farm impacts on migratory birds along the Taiwan Strait. Mu-Ming is now investigating how climate change and land-use change affect the Black-faced Spoonbill, an endangered species. In her spare time, Mu-Ming is a keen birdwatcher, and has participated in many citizen science projects.

Bastien hails from France, but in 2020 moved to California, where he completed his undergraduate at UCLA. He is now enrolled in the University of Queensland-SUSTech Collaborative PhD. For his PhD, he is studying the ecology and population biology of small mammals, particularly in relation to the mast fruiting events which characterize the forests of Southeast Asia. He hopes his findings will shed light on important ecological questions, and also benefit conservation efforts in these imperiled habitats.

Haixiang comes from Yulin, Guangxi, and received his Bachelor's degree from SUSTech. For his Master's, he is examining the changing habitat conditions across the EAAF, particularly among coastal wetlands and the rapidly expanding fish ponds, and their impacts on migrating bird species. In the future, he will focus his research on the Asian Dowitcher, hoping to contribute to its conservation. 

Lilian hails from Meizhou, the Hakka capital of the world in eastern Guangdong. She received her undergraduate diploma in Business English. As Lab Manager, she ensures the smooth operation of SUSTech’s Biodiversity Lab.