People
Balding, Sharon T.
| Job Title | Project Manager, MSB Enhancement Project |
|---|---|
| Department | Seed Conservation |
| Section | Information |
| Science Teams |
Millennium Seed Bank Project |
| Joined Kew | 2002 |
| Foreign Language(s) | French (basic) |
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc, Tropical Environmental Science, Univ. of Aberdeen, 1993.
Role
Management of staff and resources necessary for the production of seed collection guides for MSBP partners.
Responsibility for the Species Targeting Team, which utilises RBG Kew’s vast herbarium specimen and literature resources to collate the information necessary to prioritize species for conservation in partner countries. The data collected on each species are compiled into guides designed to facilitate the collection of these taxa in the field. The twelve partner countries involved in this project are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chile, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, South Africa and Tanzania. Over a three year period, at least one collection guide will be produced for each of these countries. Activities include the extraction of database and geo-reference information from herbarium specimens from herbaria at Kew and Paris (Francophone partners only). When available, we combine this with data provided by the partner country and information on the species taken from literature sources. The data are then subjected to geographical information systems and other analyses to provide: (i) recorded distributions; (ii) species phenology patterns; (iii) recommended localities for seed collection; and (iv) preliminary assessments of extinction risk. In parallel with data extraction, digital images of herbarium specimens are taken to provide partners with visual tools for rapid identification of target species in the field. The resulting collection guides are distributed to the collecting teams in each country and are used to plan efficient seed-collecting trips based on all the relevant information for the targeted species.
Projects
Millennium Seed Bank Project in Jordan
Millennium Seed Bank Project in Lebanon
Millennium Seed Bank Project in Namibia
Millennium Seed Bank Project in South Africa
MSB Enhancement Project Part 1A – Species Targeting
Theme: Climate and Reproductive Biology
Selected Publications 2001-2005
Hodgkison, R., Ahmad, D., Balding, S.T., Kingston, T., Zubaid, A. & Kunz, K.H. (2002). Capturing bats (Chiroptera) in tropical forest canopies. In Mitchell, A.W., Secoy, K. & Jackson, T. (eds) The Global Canopy Programme Handbook: Techniques of access and study in the forest roof. Oxford: Global Canopy Programme. 160-167.
Hodgkison, R., Balding, S.T., Zubaid, A. & Kunz, T.H. (2003). Roosting ecology and social organization of the spotted-winged fruit bat, Balionycteris maculata (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) in a Malaysian lowland dipterocarp forest. Journ. Trop. Ecol. 19: 667-676.
Hodgkison, R., Balding, S.T., Zubaid, A. & Kunz, T.H. (2003). Seed dispersal by fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) in a Malaysian lowland forest. Biotropica 35: 491-502.
Hodgkison, R., Balding, S.T., Zubaid, A. & Kunz, T.H. (2004). Habitat Structure, wing morphology, and the vertical stratification of Malaysian fruit bats. Journ. Trop. Ecol. 20: 667-673.
Hodgkison, R., Balding, S.T., Zubaid, A. & Kunz, T.H. (2004). Temporal variation in the relative abundance of fruit bats (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae) in relation to the availability of food in a lowland Malaysian rain forest. Biotropica 36: 522-533.