Dr Zachary Amir

Zachary Amir completed degrees in Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado- Boulder with the Latin honours Magna sum laude. His passion for studying wildlife ecology was ignited when he studied abroad in Queensland and developed a research project examining interactions between lace monitor lizards and humans on Fraser Island. After graduating, Zachary worked as a field research technician on several USA federal government and university projects focused on the management and conservation of threatened reptiles and amphibians.

For his PhD at The University of Queensland, Zachary is researching the ecology and conservation of Southeast Asian tropical forest wildlife with Dr Matthew Luskin and Dr James Watson as his supervisors. Southeast Asian tropical forests are packed with unique and threatened species, but are experiencing immense pressures from deforestation, agriculture, and hunting. By understanding how these threats alter wildlife communities, Zachary hopes generate meaningful conservation measures. Specifically, he is utilising a regional multi-site approach to analyse how the loss of different apex predators, such as tigers and clouded leopards, influences the remaining wildlife community and restructures food-webs across the region.