Matt Sommerville

Imperial College
Division of Biology
Silwood Park
Ascot, Berkshire
SL5 7PY, UK

My PhD work will focus on direct payments for conservation services in the Menabe region of western Madagascar. I will be evaluating the success of direct payments and the transferability of this model to other community-based conservation initiatives within Madagascar and abroad.

This research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

For more research on the Menabe see the Menabe Research Group website.

Previous research

In 2005, I completed a GIS study of deforestation patterns within and surrounding Madagascar’s protected area system, and developed spatial explicit logistic regression models to predict where the threat of deforestation will be highest with in Madagascar’s protected areas.

"An analysis of deforestation trends across Madagascar's protected area system (1980-2000) & implications for future management" (full PDF available on request)

Chapters

* Chapter 3: Protected areas, buffer zones and high conservation value areas: Do Madagascar's reserves deliver?
* Chapter 4: Potential causes of deforesattion within Madagscar's protected areas
* Chapter 5: Predicting precise locations of forest-loss in Madagascar's protected areas

I have previously worked on developing a long-term monitoring program and marine no-take zones for Blue Ventures Conservation in Andavadoaka, Madagascar ( www.blueventures.org).

Brief CV

October 2006 – present: PhD student, Imperial College

September 2005 – October 2006: Director, Alpine Environmental Education Center, Switzerland

October 2004 – September 2005: MSc in Environmental Change and Management, Oxford University

May 2004 – October 2004: Ecology Lecturer; Upward Bound Program, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

October 2003 – May 2004: Research Coordinator, Blue Ventures Conservation, Andavadoaka, Madagascar

September 2002 – October 2003: Lecturer, Alpine Environmental Education Center, Switzerland

May 2002 – September 2002: Research Assistant, Forest Carnivore Research Project, US Forest Service, California

1998-2002: BA in Biology, Middlebury College; Middlebury, VT, Dissertation: Impact of herbivory on Vermont hardwood forest succession
Field research on:
- "Dendrochronology labwork and fieldwork on changing tree-line in Alaska”
- "Aquaculture potential for crayfish (Astacoides) in Fianarantsoa forest corridor, Madagascar”
- “Ecological and socio-economic impacts of a proposed Ilmenite mining port on a small fishing village, Evatra, Madagascar”