Dr Lily Bentley secures Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to enhance seabird conservation

CBCS Postdoctoral Research Fellow 
 
CBCS’s Dr Lily Bentley, a movement ecologist and UQ postdoctoral research fellow, has been awarded a Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship, receiving $23,000 in funding to collaborate with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 
 

The Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship program offers Queensland-based professionals access to the world-class facilities, expertise and collections of the Smithsonian Institution. It funds fellowships for researchers to visit the United States or Panama and complete collaborative projects. 

“Queensland’s program with the Smithsonian Institution is the only agreement of its kind in Australia, offering a unique opportunity for researchers to collaborate, connect, and share mutually beneficial learnings in their chosen fields,” Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson said in a statement to  the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI). 
 

A break from fieldwork tagging seabirds in Alaska: Dr Lily Bentley and Dr Autumn-Lynn Harrison from the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, who will be collaborating as part of the fellowship.

Image credit: Amy Scarpignato


Seabirds and the GBR 

Lily’s research project aims to summarise our current understanding of the migratory connectivity of Queensland seabirds to improve conservation outcomes and ultimately support a healthy Great Barrier Reef. The project will review and synthesise all tracking and banding data from seabirds in the Great Barrier Reef, building on previous studies that identified breeding-season foraging areas. There will be a focus both on datasets identifying non-breeding areas for Great Barrier Reef breeding colonies and datasets from seabirds breeding elsewhere that visit the Great Barrier Reef. Additionally, her project will adapt analytical methods developed at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre to quantify the connectivity of Great Barrier Reef seabirds. It’s important to understand the flow of highly mobile species in and out of important areas like the Great Barrier Reef – not only to support conservation planning for the species themselves but also so that we get a better picture of the connectivity required to maintain healthy ecosystem function. 

Black noddy tern, Heron Island.

Image credit: Sirrob01, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


CBCS networks – and future collaborations 

“It’s really exciting because there’s so much expertise at the Smithsonian to work with”, Lily says. “It was networks built through CBCS that allowed me to meet collaborators all around the world, and they have led to this scholarship. Dr Autumn-Lynn Harrison at the Smithsonian is an incredible mentor, and it’s going to be an amazing opportunity to do some work outside of Australia, and bring that knowledge back to Queensland, which I’m really excited about as well. And it’s always exciting to go to new places and meet new people and see how different organisations work.” 

Looking ahead, Lily hopes to see a lasting partnership with DESI. “I would love to continue to collaborate with [DESI] on the findings of this project and work together to co-design future research that both answers ecological questions and feeds really constructively into conservation and management needs. I think that would be the ultimate goal for what comes next.” 

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