Dr Karl Evans

School of Biosciences

Senior Lecturer

karl.evans@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0125

Full contact details

Dr Karl Evans
School of Biosciences
B2 210
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Profile
  • Senior Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of Sheffield (2015-present)
  • Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of Sheffield (2011-2014)
  • Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Sheffield (2009-2011)
  • Post-doctoral researcher, University of Sheffield (2003-2008)
  • Royal Society Travelling Research Fellow, University of Lincoln, New Zealand (2002)
  • DPhil, University of Oxford (2001)
Research interests

My research focuses on biodiversity responses to environmental change, and how negative impacts of human activity can be minimised through conservation interventions and policy. This research considers a wide range of environmental change drivers and environments but urbanisation and climate change are two major themes. I am also interested in how biodiversity responds to natural environmental gradients. My research is increasingly multi-disciplinary and often combines large scale approaches with intensive fieldwork at more local scales.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

All publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Gaston KJ, Chown SL & Evans KL (2008) Ecogeographical rules: elements of a synthesis. JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Vol. 35(3) (pp 483-500) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Whittingham MJ & Evans KL (2004) The effects of habitat structure on predation risk of birds in agricultural landscapes. IBIS, Vol. 146 (pp 210-220) RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Research group

Postdoctoral researchers

  • Dr Georgina Southon - Urban ecosystem services: fragments, functions and flows project. NERC funded through the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) research programme.
  • Dr Briony Norton - Urban ecosystem services: fragments, functions and flows project. NERC funded through the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) research programme.
  • Dr Odhran O'Sulivan - Improving road side verges for biodiversity and ecosystem services (NERC Impact accelerator

PhD students

  • Despina Berdeni - Balancing food security and biodiversity - are fungi the answer?
  • Cecilie Dyngeland - Delivering food security through small scale farmers - lessons from Brazil.
  • Simon Mills - Impacts of extreme climatic events on European bird and butterfly populations.
  • Joli Borah - Cost-effectively enhancing the carbon and biodiversity value of shifting cultivation under REDD plus.
  • Nada Badruddin - Environmental determinants of Malaysian firefly assemblage structure.
  • Caitlin Higgot - Evolutionary ecology of an extended phenotype: nest construction and function in a variable environment.
  • Vicki Senior - Developing a mechanistic understanding of the ecological impacts of climate change: neglected woodland insects.
  • Olivia Richardson
  • Bowy den Braber - Protected areas economic constraint or opportunity?
Teaching activities

My teaching is strongly connected to my environmental change research

At level 2 I am module co-ordinator for APS271 Conservation Principles, which uses a diverse array of case-studies to introduce students to the ecological principles that underpin conservation action. The overall aim is to equip students with the skills required to derive solutions to many of the problems faced by those working in conservation.

At level 3 I teach on APS349 Conservation Issues and Management which provides students opportunities to develop (i) their knowledge of topical issues in conservation, (ii) their ability to identify potential solutions to real-world conservation problems and assess the likely effectiveness of these, (iii) their skills in accessing, interpreting and synthesising the primary scientific literature in the field of conservation, and (iv) their ability to think independently.

I give tutorials to level 1 and level 2 students, and supervise ecology and conservation research projects and dissertations at level 3, level 4 and for our MRes courses.

I have a Certificate in Learning and Teaching (CiLT) qualification (modules 1 & 2)

Professional activities and memberships
  • Associated editor of Animal Conservation (2012 onwards)
  • Associate editor of Global Ecology and Biogeography (2010 onwards)
  • Member of British Ornithologists' Union committee (2013 onwards)