I completed my undergraduate degree in Zoology at the University of St Andrews. While there, I became interested in using computational methods to understand biological processes that are difficult to study in the field. For instance, my undergraduate dissertation focused on identifying the evolutionary drivers of local enhancement behaviour, which occurs over large scales, via simulation modelling. I was then able to use my computing experience to contribute to several research projects.
Over the past few years, I have become involved and interested in conservation research through fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon and in Liwonde National Park, Malawi, and through a semester-long exchange at James Cook University, Australia. I have experienced a diverse range of ecosystems, and recognise that it is more crucial than ever to gain a thorough understanding of the threats faced by our biodiversity in order to best conserve it.
Awards: Royal Society of Biology Top Student Award (2021), The Principal’s Scholarship for Academic Excellence (2021), D’Arcy Thompson Medal in Natural History (2021), D’Arcy Thompson Senior Honours Prize (2021), ZSL Charles Darwin & Marsh Prize nominee (2021), Port of Townsville Limited Prize in Marine Biology (2020), Second Year Medal (2019), Margaret Laing Bell Prize (2019), Dean’s List (2017-2021).
Current Research
My research aims to mathematically define, and thus better understand, the interactions between humans, carnivores, livestock, and wild prey of carnivores in the context of the human-wildlife conflict occurring in African systems. I am particularly interested in demonstrating the importance of using encounter rates when predicting and modelling depredation risk. Through a combination of computational, data-driven, and field-based methods, I aim to further develop the way in which carnivore depredation of livestock is studied, understand how carnivores pursue prey in a coupled human-natural system, and use my findings to derive the best practices of conservation in hotspots of human-wildlife conflict.
Publications
Rouviere, A., Ruxton, G.D. (2022) 'The effects of local enhancement on mean food uptake rate', The American Naturalist, 199(1), pp.21-33. / Rouviere, A., Ruxton, G.D. (2022) ‘No evidence for magnetic alignment in domestic dogs in urban parks’, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 49, pp.71-74.
