Background
Lavinia is an undergraduate conservation biology student at the University of Wollongong. She is currently in her third year and is undertaking a pilot study for SAEF through a Science Project subject. She is working on the project ‘Analysis of efficacy of a new point-intercept methodology for assessment of moss health percent cover in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica’, under Diana King’s thesis ‘Monitoring Antarctic bryophyte communities in a time of change’.
Lavinia is passionate about protecting natural ecosystems, biodiversity and safeguarding our future from the effects of climate change. She is particularly interested in research on biodiversity trends and changes through time, measuring genetic diversity and geneflow across landscapes, and, animal behavioural studies. She was drawn to Antarctic research as the effects of human-induced climate change in Antarctica are prominent and are closely linked to large-scale changes we are seeing globally.