Annabel Dorrestein

Bio
I have a strong interest for mammalian behavioral ecology, and endangered species ecology and conservation. In 2014 I finished my Bachelor of Science in Biology with Honours at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. During my BSc I had already developed a passion for conservation by studying conservation and ecophysiology in South Africa for a semester and conducting a small research project on the impacts of ecotourism on vertebrates in the tropical rainforest of Peru. During my Masters of Science in Ecology and Natural Resource Management, I further developed this interest by conducting research in Suriname on tropical forest regeneration and by doing an internship with WWF. I completed my MSc degree Cum Laude with a project on the impacts of the invasive yellow crazy ants on the roosting behaviour of the Christmas Island flying-fox. My fieldwork involved behavioural observations of the flying-foxes at different roost sites, and yellow crazy ants counts. This project developed my interest in flying-foxes, and led to my current PhD on social organisation of Christmas Island flying-foxes.

Before starting my PhD I worked as a voluntary research assistant on Kangaroo Island, trapping and processing small mammals. I further developed my passion for bats as a volunteer for Bat030 and NEMVTT in the Netherlands, as a junior ecologist for SAB in the Netherlands, and as a voluntary research assistant for a Harvard University PhD project, based at the Cerro Chucantí Nature Reserve, Panama. We examined the hyperparasitic fungi associated with ectoparasitic flies on neotropical bats.
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​Research
In animal societies, conflicts arise because different individuals face different trade-offs concerning reproduction and survival, and these conflicts are what drives the social organisation within and between groups. Bats are of particular interest for studies of social organisation because they are highly social animals that form some of the largest known mammalian aggregations, and they exhibit a greater diversity in social organisation than any other mammalian order. However, little is known about social organisation of flying-foxes, mainly because their extreme mobility complicates studying individuals in the wild.

The Christmas Island flying-fox (CIFF; Pteropus melanotus natalis) is a medium-sized fruit bat confined to Christmas Island. It provides important seed disperser and pollinator services to the island’s flora and is therefore considered a keystone species. However, the CIFF became listed as Critically Endangered in 2014, and with the recent extinction of the Christmas Island pipistrelle, the species is now the only indigenous mammal remaining on the island. Recently, a lack of understanding of the social organisation was identified as a key knowledge gap preventing sound conservation management of the CIFF. Social organisation is important for the CIFFs conservation because of its effects on the size of the effective breeding population (Ne), patterns of seed/pollen disperser behaviours, and disease dynamics, issues that are particularly relevant in small populations of keystone species on islands. Therefore, by increasing our understanding of the social organisation of the CIFF, the research will contribute to the conservation of this Critically Endangered species.

The aims of this study are two-fold:
1) To increase our fundamental understanding of social organisation in terms of underlying social and ecological pressures and individual selective benefits
2) To provide management-relevant information to help secure the long-term persistence of the CIFF
Publications
Luke R Lloyd-Jones, Mark V Bravington, Kyle N Armstrong, Emma Lawrence, Pierre Feutry, Christopher M Todd, Annabel Dorrestein, Justin A Welbergen, John M Martin, Karrie Rose, Jane Hall, David N Phalen, Isabel Peters, Shane M Baylis, Nicholas A Macgregor, David A Westcott (2023) Close-kin mark-recapture informs critically endangered terrestrial mammal status.  Scientific Reports, 13, 12512

Pulscher, L. A., Peel, A. J., Rose, K., Welbergen, J. A., Baker, M. L., Boyd V., Low-Choy S., Edson D., Todd, C., Dorrestein A., Hall, J., Todd S., Broder C. C., Yan, L., Xu, K., Peck, G. R. & Phalen, D. N. (2022) Serological evidence of a pararubulavirus and a betacoronavirus in the geographically isolated Christmas Island flying-fox (Pteropus natalis). Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, doi: ​10.1111/tbed.14579

Todd, C.M., Dorrestein, A., Pulscher, L.A. & Welbergen, J.A. 2021. Pteropus melanotus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T18740A22082634. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T18740A22082634.en

​Dorrestein, A., Todd, C., Westcott, D., Martin, J. & Welbergen, J. A. (2019) Impacts of an invasive ant species on roosting behaviour of an island endemic flying-fox. Biotropica, 51(1): 75-83 
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Walker, M.J., Dorrestein A., Camacho J., Meckler L.A. Silas K.A., Hiller T., Haelewater D. (2018) A tripartite study of hyperparastic fungi associated with ectoparasitic flies on bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in a neotropical cloud forest in Panama. Parasite, 25. 

Media
ABC podcast 'What the Duck?!' - Feeling crabby
ABC podcast 'Off Track' - Nipple cripples and other nibbles
ABC - Christmas Island robber crab suspected of nicking expensive camera in late-night burglary
BBC - Christmas Island: 'A giant robber crab stole my camera'
Der Spiegel - Riesenkrebs bestiehlt Forscherin
NOS radio 1 FOCUS - Wat voor vrienden heeft de vleerhond?
NOS - Enorme krab rooft peperdure camera Nederlandse onderzoekster
SBS German - The world's strongest crab is also a thief

Grants and awards
2023                          Harry Bloomfield Postdoctoral Matching Scholarship
2022                          Best student presentation, Australasian Bat Society Conference Brisbane 
2020                          Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment Grant
2020                          Bat Conservation International Student Research Scholarship
2020                          Verne and Marion Read Bat Conservation Award
2019                          Australasian Bat Society conference travel grant
2019                          Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment Grant
2019                          Second price 3MT competition at Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
2019                          18th IBRC Open Travel Grant
2019                          Australasian Bat Society Grant
2018                          Wettenhall Environment Trust Small Environmental Grants Scheme
2018                          Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment Grant
2018                          Kathmandu sponsoring 

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