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Staff Profile
I am an organismal biologist, specialising in the ecology, evolution and conservation of reptiles and amphibians.
Positions held
- Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Evolution. Newcastle University, UK
- Scientific Associate. Natural History Museum, London
- Associate Member. Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles
- Board Member. Amphibian Genomics Consortium
- Regional co-chair. IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group
- Member. IUCN Snake Specialist Group
- Member. IUCN Skink Specialist Group
Brief CV
- 2024 - present: Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Evolution. Newcastle University
- 2023 - 2024: Lecturer in Ecology and Evolution. Newcastle University
- 2018 - 2019: Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. University of Wolverhampton
- 2017 - 2023: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Conservation Genetics. University of Wolverhampton
- 2011 - 2016: PhD. Natural History Museum, London & University College London
- 2007 - 2011: MZool. University of Wales, Bangor
Research themes
- Conservation.
- Biogeographic patterns driving diversification.
- Systematics and taxonomy.
- Establishing minimally invasive methods for collecting and isolating DNA.
- How habitat and environmental change impacts diversity.
Lab group
Postdoctoral researchers
Dr Deepak Veerappan: NERC-NSF funded project on "Origins and expansion of endemic biodiversity in western Melanesia and their relation to tectonic evolution" (2023 – present). https://sites.google.com/view/deepakveerappan/home
Research Assistants
Samuel Betts: jointly working with North Pennines National Landscape on the project on the project "Genetic diversity and connectivity of adders (Vipera berus) in the North Pennines" and "Natterjack toad genomics" (2024 – present).
Lucy Struthers: jointly working with North Pennines National Landscape on the project on the project "Genetic diversity and connectivity of adders (Vipera berus) in the North Pennines" (2024 – 2025).
Rebecca Morris: NERC-NSF funded project on "Origins and expansion of endemic biodiversity in western Melanesia and their relation to tectonic evolution" (2023 – 2025).
PhD students
Lucy Struthers "Adders in the north: Conserving northern England’s adder (Vipera berus) populations" (2025 – present) [co-supervisors Dr Roy Sanderson (Newcastle University), Dr Christine Howard (Durham University)]
David Nixon "Conservation of adders on the Inner Hebrides, Scotland" (2025 – present part time) [co-supervisors Dr Roy Sanderson (Newcastle University), Dr Axel Barlow (Bangor University)]
Ellen Sharkey "Impacts of climate change on Seychelles caecilian amphibians" (2024 – present) [co-supervisors Dr Louise Mair (Newcastle University) & Dr Gerard Rocamora (case partner at Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles)].
Sampurna Roychoudry "Using genomics to evolve our understanding of the phylogeographic history of the Galapagos giant tortoise radiation" (2024 – present) [Primary supervisor Dr Evelyn Jensen (Newcastle University), co-supervisor Prof Kathryn Elmer (University of Glasgow)].
Saunak Pal "Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of the sphenomorphin skinks" (2023 – present) [co-supervisors Dr Fred Kraus (University of Michigan) & Dr Evelyn Jensen (Newcastle University). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saunak-Pal
Nicole Grimason "Trends in population size of Rana temporaria in the UK" (2023 – present) [primary supervisor Dr Natasha Kruger (University of Wolverhampton), co-supervisor Dr Chris Young (University of Wolverhampton)]. https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/N.Grimason
Julie Smith "The assembly of species interaction networks: Examining the effects of afforestation as part of the Northern Forest Initiative" (2020 – present part time) [primary supervisor Prof Darren Evans (Newcastle University)]
graduated Dr Marcy Summers "Ecology and Conservation of the Maleo, Macrocephalon maleo, in Tompotika, Sulawesi, Indonesia (2018 – 2025) [primary supervisor Prof Phil McGowan (Newcastle University), co-supervisors Dr Peter Robertson (Newcastle University), Dr. Nigel Collar (Birdlife International), Dr. Matt Geary (University of Chester)]. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hEYWDk4AAAAJ&hl=en
graduated Dr Rémi Martin "Back to the future? Unravelling historic, current and potential future declines of the common toad, Bufo bufo, in the UK" (2019 – 2024) [co-supervisors Dr John Wilkinson (Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust) & Dr Robert Jehle (Salford University)]. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Remi-Martin
graduated Dr Morgan Hughes "The Assemblages, Fitness and Movements of Bats (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae and Rhinolophidae) in the Urban Matrix" (2018 – 2023) [co-supervisor Dr Chris Young (University of Wolverhampton)]. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Morgan-Hughes
Visiting PhD students
Boglárka Toth: Amphibian genomics in Hungary (2025 – present)
Masters students
Jun Wang (2025 – present). Radio telemetry of adders (Vipera berus) in the North Pennines
Leo David (2025 – present). TBD
Daniella Cuerdon (2025 – present). A potential new welfare indicator for captive snakes: How movement patterns may aid in assessing valence in snake arousal
graduated Tom Childs (2025). How do heavy metals impact common frog (Rana temporaria) development?
graduated Ellie Davison (2024). Is there a link between amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and low genetic diversity in common toad (Bufo bufo) populations in Britain?
graduated Kyle Armstrong (2024). Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) use in allotments in northeast England.
graduated Aurora O’Brien (2022). Diversity and biogeography of the New Guinea slender-toed geckos (Gekkonidae: Nactus).
graduated Nicole Grimason (2022). Phylogeographic patterns of the common frog in the UK.
graduated Stephanie Cartwright (2022). Diversity patterns in four Ecuadorian amphibian and reptile species.
graduated Annie Gwilt (2021). Phylogeography and species delimitation of the New Guinea small-eyed snake Micropechis ikaheka.
graduated Sophia Barton (2021). Can environmental dna (eDNA) be used as a non-invasive monitoring technique for caecilian amphibians from Praslin, Seychelles?
graduated Sarah Battye (2020). Biogeography, life history and conservation of caecilians.
graduated Ed O’Malley (2019). Transcriptomics of Seychelles caecilians.
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Articles
- Sherlock MB, Wilkinson M, Maddock ST, Nussbaum RA, Day JJ, Streicher JW. Submerged Corridors of Ancient Gene Flow in an Island Amphibian. Molecular Ecology 2025, 34(9), e17742.
- V Deepak, Kraus F, Maddock ST. Island-hopping anurans: diversification dynamics in a widespread frog family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 2025, 205(3), zlaf145.
- Laking AE, Solis JM, Brown T, Maddock ST, Burdekin O, Taylor P, Lonsdale G, Green SEW, Martin TE, Galdamez JR, Kolby JE, Erens J, Jocque M. The amphibians and reptiles of Cusuco National Park, Northwest Honduras: updates from a long-term conservation programme. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 2024, 19(2), 87-112.
- Hughes M, Brown SK, Martin R, Young CH, Maddock S. Technical note: successful DNA amplification of DNA from non-destructive buccal swabbing in Vespertilionid and Rhinolophid bats. Conservation Genetics Resources 2024, 16, 199-202.
- Martin R, Mullin KE, White NFD, Grimason N, Jehle R, Wilkinson JW, Orozco-terWengel P, Cunningham AA, Maddock ST. Optimising recovery of DNA from minimally invasive sampling methods: Efficacy of buccal swabs, preservation strategy and DNA extraction approaches for amphibian studies. Ecology and Evolution 2024, 14(9), e70294.
- Sherlock MB, Streicher JW, Gower DJ, Maddock ST, Nussbaum RA, Oommen OV, Serra Silva A, Day JJ, Wilkinson M. Genomic SNPs resolve the phylogeny of an ancient amphibian island radiation from the Seychelles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2024, 198, 108130.
- Schott RK, Fujita MK, Streicher JW, Gower DJ, Thomas KN, Loew ER, Bamba Kaya AG, Bittencourt-Silva GB, Guillherme Becker C, Cisneros-Heredia D, Clulow S, Davila M, Firneno TJ, Haddad CFB, Janssenswillen S, Labisko J, Maddock ST, Mahony M, Martins RA, Michaels CJ, Mitchell NJ, Portik DM, Prates I, Roelants K, Roelke C, Tobi E, Woolfolk M, Bell RC. Diversity and Evolution of Frog Visual Opsins: Spectral Tuning and Adaptation to Distinct Light Environments. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2024, 41(4), msae049.
- Mancuso M, Zaman S, Maddock ST, Kamei RG, Salazar-Valenzuela D, Wilkinson M, Roelants K, Fry BG. Resistance Is Not Futile: Widespread Convergent Evolution of Resistance to Alpha-Neurotoxic Snake Venoms in Caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2023, 24(14), 11353.
- Deepak V, Maddock ST, Williams R, Nagy ZT, Conradie W, Rocha S, Harris DJ, Perera A, Gvozdík V, Doherty Bone TM, Kamei RG, Menegon M, Labisko J, Morel C, Cooper N, Day JJ, Gower DJ. Molecular phylogenetics of sub-Saharan African natricine snakes, and the biogeographic origins of the Seychelles endemic Lycognathophis seychellensis. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2021, 161, 107152.
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Review
- Kosch TA, Torres-Sanchez M, Liedtke HC, Summers K, Yun MH, Crawford AJ, Maddock ST, Ahammed MS, Araujo VLN, Bertola LV, Bucciarelli GM, Carne A, Carneiro CM, Chan KO, Chen Y, Crottini A, da Silva JM, Denton RD, Dittrich C, Espregueira Themudo G, Farquharson KA, Forsdick NJ, Gilbert E, Che J, Katzenback BA, Kotharambath R, Levis NA, Marquez R, Mazepa G, Mulder KP, Muller H, O'Connell MJ, Orozco-terWengel P, Palomar G, Petzold A, Pfennig DW, Pfennig KS, Reichert MS, Robert J, Scherz MD, Siu-Ting K, Snead AA, Stock M, Stuckert AMM, Stynoski JL, Tarvin RD, Wollenberg Valero KC, Wogan GOU, Wilkinson M, West M, Voros J, Vieites DR, Vicuna L, Venu G, Vasudevan K, Strowbridge N, Skerratt LF, Silva AS, Schulte L, Schneider RG, Sapkota S, Sang Y, Sabino-Pinto J, Ron SR, Rodriguez A, Recknagel H, Rahman M, Power ML, Pollet N, Perez-Mendoza H, Owens JB, Nneji LM, Nicolai MPJ, Nguyen TT, Nemeshazi E, Mobarak H, Mendez MA, McGuire JA, Lyra ML, Lyons TA, Lougheed SC, Lemmon EM, Lechuga-Paredes P, Lan T, Keogh JS, Jongsma GFM, Iyiola OA, Hrbek T, Poveda MH, Goutte S, Goodman MJ, Gao W, Gagliardi-Urrutia G, Funk WC, Elmer KR, Eisawi KAE, Deaton LJ, De la Riva I, Chai J, Cayuela H, Calatayud N, Brown RM, Brennan IG, Borzee A, Bittencourt-Silva GB, Biello R, Basanta MD, Barrow LN, Allain SJR, Acevedo AA. The Amphibian Genomics Consortium: advancing genomic and genetic resources for amphibian research and conservation. BMC Genomics 2024, 25(1), 1025.