Dr. Christina Buesching

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

My academic interests are two-fold: While I am an ethologist by training with particular interests in the vocal and olfactory communication of nocturnal mammals and their underlying endocrinological correlates, I am currently particularly interested in investigating the socio-political and biological implications of the involvement of volunteers in ecological monitoring.

In the past I have worked on a wide variety of mammals ranging from Australian marsupials to Madagascan prosimians and European carnivores and rodents, but I am particularly fascinated by the temperate ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere. I am currently co-ordinating the Mammal Monitoring Project in Wytham Woods, as well as starting a new mammal monitoring initiative in Nova Scotia, Canada. Both projects aim to collect data on the distribution and abundance of terrestrial mammals under the influence of climatic variables as well as a variety of environmental management regimes. The involvement of amateur volunteers through collaborations with the Earthwatch Institute and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species in data collection is crucial to both projects. While I enjoy teaching people from different backgrounds about their environment, I am also researching the best ways of training and deploying volunteers in ecological monitoring.

Buesching, C. D. and Macdonald, D.W. 2004. Variations in scent marking behaviour of European badgers (Meles meles) in the vicinity of their setts. Acta Theriologica 49(2):235-246.

Buesching, C.D. and Macdonald, D.W. 2004. Individual advertisement versus group-smell: the olfactory dilemma in the case of the European badger Meles meles. Advances in Ethology 38:50.

Macdonald, D.W., Buesching, C. D., Stopka, P., Henderson, J., Ellwood, S.A., and Baker, S.E. 2004. Encounters between two sympatric carnivores: red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and European badgers (Meles meles). Journal of Zoology 263:385-392.

Macdonald, D.W., Newman, C., Dean, J., Buesching, C. D. and Johnson, P. 2004. The distribution of Eurasian badger, Meles meles, setts in a high-density area: field observations contradict the sett dispersion hypothesis. Oikos 106:295-307.

Buesching, C.D., Stopka, P. and Macdonald, D.W. 2003. The social function of allo-marking behaviour in the European badger (Meles meles). Behaviour 140 (8-9):965-980

Newman, C., Buesching, C.D., and Macdonald, D.W. 2003. Validating mammal monitoring methods and assessing the performance of volunteers in wildlife conservation - "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes". Biological Conservation 113:189-197.

Buesching, C.D., Newman, C., and Macdonald, D.W. 2002a. Variations in colour and volume of the subcaudal gland secretion of badgers (Meles meles) in relation to sex, season and individual-specific parameters. Z Säugetierk 67:147-156.

Buesching, C.D., Waterhouse, J.P. and Macdonald, D.W. 2002b. Gas-chromatographic analysis of the subcaudal gland secretion of the European badger (Meles meles) Part I: Chemical differences related to individual-specific parameters. ournal of Chemical Ecology 28:41-56.

Buesching, C.D., Waterhouse, J.P. and Macdonald, D.W. 2002c. Gas-chromatographic analysis of the subcaudal gland secretion of the European badger (Meles meles) Part II: Time-related variation in the individual-specific composition. Journal of Chemical Ecology 28:57-69.

Macdonald, D.W., Newman, C., Buesching C.D., and Tattersall, F.H. 2002c. Volunteer mammal monitors: Measuring the professionalism of amateurs. Ensus 2002:Paper 2.

Macdonald, D.W., Stewart, P.D., Johnson, P.J, Porkert, J. and Buesching C. D. 2002g. No evidence of social hierarchy amongst feeding badgers, Meles meles. Ethology 108:613-628.

Buesching C. D., and Macdonald, D.W. 2001. Scent-marking behaviour of the European badger (Meles meles): Resource defence or individual advertisement? In: Marchlewska-Koj A, Lepri JJ, Müller-Schwarze D, editors. Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 9. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers. p 321-327.