Personal

 

Nationality: Danish

Gender: Male

Born March 1962

 

 

Education

 

M.Sc. in Biology from University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Various reports on a number of issues on montane forest birds of East Africa.

 

 

Research interest

 

Of specialist concern: Avifauna of the Eastern Arc Mountains with a special interest in; altitudinal and horizontal distribution patterns, altitudinal movements and the seasonal changes that implies these changes. The importance of lowland areas as winter refugees. Have also interests in bird’s habitat preferences and the factors driving these selections. These factors significance on conservation of lowland forest areas.

 

 

Fieldwork experiences

 

Two years in Tanzania during field work periods: 1991-92, 1993-94, 1998 and 2002-2003.

Three months in India and Nepal (fauna studies of birds).

Four weeks in Greenland (studies of invertebrates and algae in homotermic springs).

One month on the Canary Islands (ecological studies of birds) (Drs. Jørgen Rabøl and Torben Dabelsteen) in 1990 and also general bird tour two weeks 2002.

Five years with census, technique counts of breeding and wintering birds in Denmark for BirdLife Denmark (DOF, Danish Ornithological Society) during breeding or winter seasons only.

 

 

Employment

 

Bird ringer 1993: four weeks of intensive ringing of Black Birds (Turdus merula) in a semi mature forest in Denmark for Dr. Dabelsteen's doctor dissertation.

Danish Centre for Tropical Biodiversity (DCTB) 1996-1999: three years of halftime employment for DCTB (Danish Centre for Tropical Biodiversity) (Prof. Dr Phil Jon Fjeldså and Drs. Neil D. Burgess, Carsten Rahbek and Jens B. Rasmussen). Distribution of vertebrates in Sub-Saharan Africa. The GIS related program WorldMap was used for this purpose.

DCTB 1997: eight weeks of data collection at various institutes, museums and private people in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania with collaborative “partners” to DCTB.

DIVA 1998: one year of halftime employment for DIVA (Centre for research on the Culture and biological Diversity of Andean Rainforests) for Prof. Dr. Phil. Jon Fjeldså and Dr. Carsten Rahbek with bird’s distribution in South America. The GIS related program WorldMap was used for this purpose.

DANCED 1998: four weeks for DANCED of database teaching of two master thesis students from Sabah (Borneo-Malaysia). An insect databases for their work with distribution of selected insect groups on Borneo was started. Training in use of the GIS program WorldMap was also done. In 1999 three weeks training course was held on Sabah Borneo in order to train students, staff and stakeholders on University Malaysia Sabah (UMS). One month in January-February 2001 on Sabah for further work on their WorldMap data was a follow up of the previous thought in 1998 and 1999.

ENRECA since 1999: assisting Prof. Jon Fjeldså in the daily issues in various ENRECA matters (budgets, purchasing equipments and daily contact to people involved) on project related visits since 1999 a number of students and staff at UDSM (University of Dar es Salaam) have been taught in the uses of databases.

WWF-US 1999: More than ten weeks work with databases and the distribution of vertebrates in Sub-Saharan Africa World Wide Fund US. The GIS program WorldMap was used for this purpose

RUF (rådet for udlandsforskning): A position for two year (on halftime) as the daily manager of the ZMUC WorldMap databases 1/1-2000 - 31/12-2001.

SNF (Statens Naturvidenskabelige Forskningsråd): Since 1999 assisting Prof. Jon Fjeldså in the daily issues in various SNF matters (budgets, purchasing equipments and daily contact to people involved) and compiling distributional data of vertebrates in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. J.B. Rasmussen has been (and still is) assisted for longer periods with digitalising the distribution of all sub-Saharan land snakes.

Present status: finishing the work with updating the ZMUC mega-vertebrate databases and writing and editing the forthcoming book on “Biodiversity Atlas of sub-Saharan Vertebrates” together with Drs. Neil Burgess, Carsten Rahbek and Professor Jon Fjeldså

 

Grants/funds

 

Aage V. Jensen’s Foundations covered all expenses during the Udzungwa Mts. 1991-92 expedition with a total of 285,000 Dkr.

Aage V. Jensen’s Foundations also supported the Uluguru Mts. international expedition in 1993 with 90,000 Dkr.

Becketts Foundation supported the international expedition to the Uluguru Mts. in 1993 with 30,000 Dkr.

Boje Benzon 50,000 Dkr, Dronning Margrethe og Prins Henriks Fond 10,000 and 25,000 Dkr from Frimodt-Heineke Fonden covered almost half of the expedition coast during the six months in Tanzania 2002-2003.

 

Other

 

Ornithologist with a touch of botany knowledge

-During May 2000 and 2001 volunteer at Falsterbo Ringing Station.

Tropical bird-ringer:

-During 1991-92 a total of eleven months in Tanzania for my master thesis ca. 2000 montane forest birds were ringed (and released)

-During 1993 I was team leader on a three month intensive study of the bird fauna (see coming hyperlink to report) in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania – here an additional 1000 birds were ringed (and released)

-During further studies, in 2002-2003 Tanzania, additional some hundred birds were ring (and released)

Major discoveries: Xenoperdix udzungwensis (Dinesen et al. 1994).