Ally Dell
MRes Student
E-mail:
I am a Masters by Research student currently researching mammalian prey species of an unhabituated chimpanzee community in Cantanhez National Park using DNA metabarcoding on faecal samples. This community contains chimpanzees infected with leprosy, therefore my research aims not only to improve our understanding of their feeding ecology, but also to explore the use of dietary analysis as a tool to identify potential sources of leprosy infection. I completed the laboratory work at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), supervised by Dr Sebastien Calvignac-Spencer (now associated the Helmholtz Institute for One Health) and am currently writing my thesis, supervised by Dr Kimberley Hockings and Dr Camille Bonneaud (University of Exeter).
About me
“I have previously volunteered for organisations such as the Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT) in Northern Cyprus and Devils at Cradle in Tasmania, through which I became particularly interested in infectious diseases that are of current importance to wildlife conservation. During my undergraduate degree, I learned much about Devil Facial Tumour Disease and had the opportunity to see up close the effects of this disease and the work being done to protect Tasmanian devils. After this, I wanted to continue studying infectious diseases that are threatening endangered species, which led me to apply for my current masters project researching leprosy in western chimpanzees.”
Publications
2024
- Houldcroft, A., Lindgren, F., Sanhá, A., Jaló, M., Regalla de Barros, A., Hockings, K.J. and Bersacola, E., 2024, Joint spatial modeling of cluster size and density for a heavily hunted primate persisting in a heterogeneous landscape. Ecography e07399.
- Houldcroft, A., Lindgren, F., Sanhá, A., Jaló, M., Regalla de Barros, A., Hockings, K., and Bersacola, E., 2024. Data from: Joint spatial modeling of cluster size and density for a heavily hunted primate persisting in a heterogeneous landscape [Dataset]. Dryad.
2023
- Bersacola, E. and Hockings K.J., 2023. Action plan for the conservation of medium- and large-mammals in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau (2024-2034). Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas. Bissau: Guinea-Bissau.
- Bersacola, E., Hockings, K.J., Harrison, M.E., Imron, M.A., Bessa, J., Ramon, M., Regalla de Barros, A., Jaló, M., Sanhá, A., Ruiz-Miranda, C.R. and Ferraz, L.P., 2023. Primate conservation in shared landscapes. In Primates in Anthropogenic Landscapes: Exploring Primate Behavioural Flexibility Across Human Contexts (pp. 161-181). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Ramon, M., McLennan, M.R., Ruiz-Miranda, C.R., Kalema-Zikusoka, G., Bessa, J., Bersacola, E., Sanhá, A., Jaló, M., Barros, A.R.D., Leendertz, F.H. and Hockings, K.J., 2023. Infectious diseases in primates in human-impacted landscapes. In Primates in anthropogenic landscapes: Exploring primate behavioural flexibility across human contexts (pp. 139-160). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
