Zia Mehrabi - Team Leader

1st Year biologist at St-Hilda’s College, Oxford

 Zia has great interest in tropical ecology and conservation. In the summer of 2007 he traveled to Costa Rica to work with WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network) for a period of two months. He has experience of not only working in the tropics and residing in coastal rainforest, but also of the culture and customs of the local population. He has visited all of the proposed sample sites and has direct links to collaborators in the country. Zia’s interest in entomology led him to work voluntarily at the Oxford Museum of Natural History over the summer of 2008, whereby he acquired taxonomical knowledge and an understanding of how collections and specimens are managed.

Ben Cowburn - Medical Officer

2nd year biologist at Hertford College, Oxford

Ben has from a young age been filled with enthusiasm for the living world. In recent years he has developed a particular interest in field ecology and conservation and wishes to advance in this area. The skills obtained during his time so far spent at university and his prize winning performance on a first year ecology field course have assisted in developing his experience in conducting field work. He is greatly active outdoors, running, hiking, kayaking and has acquired an advanced open water qualification (PADI) in diving. Ben as the medical officer for the team has completed the OUEC’s expedition safety course including full first aid training.

Tai Nga Yu (Nini)

2nd year biologist at Wadham College, Oxford

Nini’s interest in ecology and conservation is represented by her active participation in this field, particularly in WWF voluntary work. Her experience includes fieldwork and voluntary conservation work in a wetland in Hong Kong where she was involved in collecting data for endangered bird censuses and reed bed studies thus developing key field work skills. She has also done an extensive hiking and camping in Hong Kong and has experience of tropical environments.

Peter Coals

Prospective student of St. Hildas College, Oxford

Peter’s interests include Ethology, Ecology & organism relationships, Conservation and Management- especially in poorly developed and developing countries. After trekking in Peru in 2007 he returned to South America in 2008 to work at a research station in the Ecuadorian Amazon giving him a qualification in Biological Survey Technique. This increased his experience of operating in rainforest, and surveying organisms varying from vegetation to birds. He added 7 bird species to the reserve’s species list. He is also a qualified FGASA Safari Guide in Lowveld Southern Africa working on such as conservation-management, ID and tracking. He works with the BTO to survey and ring migratory birds as part of ongoing research. In his spare time he enjoys falconry, trekking and various sports. He also tries to communicate the natural world through wildlife films.

Darren J. Mann

Expedition Supervisor & Assistant Curator, Hope Entomological Collections
Oxford University Museum of Natural History

I have a keen interest in all aspects of natural history, specialising in entomology, museology and invertebrate conservation. I have worked in the Museum for eleven years, where I have developed a research interest in dung beetle taxonomy, ecology and conservation. I teach undergraduate and past graduates in entomology and supervise final year projects.

I have travelled in search of insects to The Gambia, Namibia, South Africa, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Borneo, Vietnam, Canada, USA, Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey, Tunisia and Fiji. I enjoy teaching field techniques and practical entomology, and have been fortunate enough to be involved in two Darwin Initiative projects teaching entomology in Bolivia and Fiji.

I am on the editorial panel for the journals The Coleopterist, Journal of the British Dragonfly Society and Cockroach Studies. I am on the library committee for the Royal Entomological Society and am the Vice-resident for the British Entomological & Natural History Society.

I have published over 100 papers on insect taxonomy, ecology and distribution.
Angus, R.B., Wilson, C.J. & Mann, D.J. 2004. Chromosomal and aedeagal distinction between Aphodius (Labarrus) lividus Olivier, 1789 and A. (L.) pseudolividus Blathasar, 1941 (Col., Scarabaeidae, Aphodiinae). Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 140: 255-261.

Angus, R.B., Wilson, C.J. & Mann, D.J. 2007. A chromosomal analysis of 15 species of Gymnopleurini, Scarabaeini and Coprini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 150: 201-211.
Duff, A.G., Mann, D.J. & Gibbs, D.J. 2007. Onthophagus fracticornis (Preyssler) is alive and well in western Britain. The Coleopterist 16(3): 131-133.
Hamel-Leigue, A.C., Mann, D.J., Vaz-de-Mello, F.Z. & Herzog, S.K. 2006. Toward an inventory of the dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) of Bolivia: first compilation of the genera and species reported for the country. Revista Boliviana de Ecología y Conservación Ambiental 20: 1-18.
Hamel-Leigue, A.C., Herzog, S.K. & Mann, D.J. 2008. Composición y riqueza de una comunidad de escarabajos peloteros (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) en los Yungas bajos de Cordillera mosetenes, Bolivia. Revista Boliviana de Ecología y Conservación Ambiental 23: 39-49.
Krell, F-T., Mann, D.J., Angus, R.B. & Mate, J.F. 2003. Aphodius niger Illiger, 1798 (Insecta, Coleoptera): proposed conservation of the specific name. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 60(2): 127-131.
Mann, D.J. 2008. Scarabaeoidea. pp. 62-66. in: Duff, A.G. [Editor] Checklist of the Beetles of the British Isles 2008 Edition. Privately published by A.G. Duff in Wells, Somerset.158pp.
Mann, D.J. & Booth, R. G. 2000. Brindalus porcicollis (Illiger) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Britain. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 13: 137-145
Slade, E.M., Mann, D.J., Villanueva, J.F. & Lewis, O.T. 2007. Experimental evidence for the effects of dung beetle functional group richness and composition on ecosystem function in a tropical forest. Journal of Animal Ecology 76(6): 1094-1104.