Allison Binley

Expertise

Decision science • Conservation science • Quantitative ecology

I am a Rose Postdoctoral Fellow conducting research on the design and implementation of dynamic conservation programs, with a goal to find ways to help biodiversity in landscapes that are dominated by human activities. Dynamic conservation programs consist of conservation actions that are implemented temporarily; they are designed to aid biodiversity at the points in their life cycle where they are most vulnerable to threats, while minimizing the impacts of these interventions on anthropogenic activities. I am designing a framework for implementing such programs, and plan to work with conservation practitioners to see this research translated into action.

I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria in 2015, with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. In the past, I have worked on a wide variety of projects, including captive breeding research in Australia, pinniped cognitive and sensory ecology in Germany, and coral reef restoration in Cambodia. I also worked for the Conservation Officer Service in British Columbia, Canada, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species, and volunteered on a number of bird monitoring and banding projects with Birds Canada and Wild Research.

During my Ph.D. at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, the aim of my thesis research was to examine how advances in the use and integration of big datasets are crucial for conducting more effective conservation research and improving management decisions and outcomes. My work focused on integrating existing data, particularly community science data, to conduct broad-scale conservation research.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I am now working on developing a framework for implementing dynamic conservation programs, which aim to provide temporary conservation measures to biodiversity at critical parts of their life cycles. This work will involve partnering with conservation practitioners to implement the findings of my research. I have a strong background in spatial statistics, decision science, data integration, literature review and big data analysis, and my research spans local, hemispheric and global scales.

Education

Ph.D., Carleton University, Biology
B.S., University of Victoria, Biology

Inspiring Quote

The thing the ecologically illiterate don’t realise about an ecosystem is that it’s a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche. A system has order, flowing from point to point. If something dams that flow, order collapses. The untrained might miss that collapse until it was too late. That’s why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences.
~Frank Herbert, Dune