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Dr Richard Ladle

• Academic Profile
• Current Research
• Publications

Academic Profile

Dr Richard Ladle is a Senior Research Associate of the School of Geography and the Environment. He studied for his D.Phil. in the evolutionary ecology of freshwater systems in the Zoology Department of Oxford University and has since held lectureships at several UK institutions.

Current Research

Richard has broad research interests ranging from the representation of conservation science in the media to the use of macroinvertebrates for stream biomonitoring. His current research and consultancy projects include a study of ecotourism capacity on the Island of Tobago, the development of standard protocols for assessing conservation and environmental attitudes, explaining morphological variation in crabs and corals inhabiting spatially heterogeneous environments, and a global analysis of the relationship between poverty and protected areas.

Selected Publications

• Barua, M., Root-Bernstein, M., Ladle, R.J. and Jepson, P. (2011) Defining flagship uses is critical for flagship selection: a critique of the IUCN climate change flagship fleet. Ambio.
• Ladle, R.J. and Jepson, P. (2010) Origins, uses, and transformation of extinction rhetoric. Environment and Society: Advances in Research, 1: 96–115.
• Malhado, A.C.M., Whittaker, R.J., Malhi, Y., Ladle, R.J., ter Steege, H., Phillips, O., Aragão, L.E.O.C., Baker, T.R., Arroyo, L., Almeida, S., Higuchi, N., Killeen, T.J., Monteagudo, A., Pitman, N.C.A., Prieto, A., Salomão, R.P., Vásquez-Martínez, R., Laurance, W.F. and Ramírez-Angulo, H. (2010) Are compound leaves an adaptation to seasonal drought or to rapid growth? Evidence from the Amazon rain forest. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 19: 852-862.
• Jepson, P. and Ladle, R. (2010) Eight predictions for 21st Century conservation. A World of Science, 8(2): 2-9.
• Whittaker, R.J., Triantis, K.A. and Ladle, R.J. (2010) A general dynamic theory of oceanic island biogeography: extending the MacArthur-Wilson theory to accommodate the rise and fall of volcanic islands. In, Losos, J.B. and Ricklefs, R.E. (eds.) The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited. Princeton University Press, pp. 88-115.
• Frangou, A., Ladle, R.J., Malhado, A.C.M. and Whittaker, R.J. (2010) Wildlife in a warming world. A World of Science, 8: 2-9.
• Jepson, P. and Ladle, R. (2010) Conservation: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld Publications.
• Ladle, R.J. (2009) Review: Forecasting Extinctions: Uncertainties and Limitations. Diversity, 1: 133-150.
• Ladle, R.J., Jepson, P. and Whittaker, R.J. (2009) La lucha por la legitimidad en el cambio climático. Infoamérica, 1: 153-163.
• McLachlan, A.J. and Ladle, R.J. (2009) The evolutionary ecology of detritus feeding in the larvae of freshwater Diptera. Biological Reviews, 84: 133-141.
• Ladle, R.J. and Gillson, L. (2009) The (im)balance of Nature: A public understanding time-lag? Public Understanding of Science, 18(2): 229-242.
• Ladle, R.J. and Jepson, P. (2008) Toward a biocultural theory of avoided extinction. Conservation Letters, : 1-8.
• Whittaker, R.J., Triantis, K.A. and Ladle, R.J. (2008) A general dynamic theory of oceanic island biogeography. Journal of Biogeography, 35: 977-994.
• Todd, P.A. and Ladle, R.J. (2008) Hidden dangers of a 'citation culture'. Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, 8: 10.
• Upton, C., Ladle, R., Hulme, D., Jiang, T., Brockington, D. and Adams, W.M. (2008) Are poverty and protected area establishment linked at a national scale? Oryx, 42(1): 19-25.
• Ladle, R.J. (2008) Catching fairies and the public representation of biogeography. Journal of Biogeography, 35: 388-391.
• Todd, P.A. and Ladle, R.J. (2008) Citations: Poor practices by authors reduce their value. Nature, 451: 244.
• Upton, C., Ladle, R.J., Hulme, D., Jiang, T., Brockington, D. and Adams, W.J. (2007) Are poverty and protected area establishment linked at the national scale? Oryx: 1-7.
• Todd, P.A., Yeo, D.C.J., Li, D. and Ladle, R.J. (2007) Citing practices in ecology: can we believe our own words? Oikos, 116: 1599-1601.
• Whittaker, R.J., Ladle, R.J., Araújo, M.B., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Delgado, J.D. and Arévalo, J.R. (2007) The island immaturity - speciation pulse model of island evolution: an alternative to the 'diversity begets diversity' model. Ecography, 30: 321-327.
• Ugland, K.I., Lambshead, P.J.D., Gray, J.S., O'Dea, N., Ladle, R.J., Whittaker, R.J. and McGill, B. (2007) Modelling dimensionality in species abundance distributions. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 9: 313-324.
• Ladle, R.J. and Todd, P.A. (2006) A developmental model for predicting handedness frequencies in crabs. Acta Oecologia, 30(2): 283-287.
• Ashlin, A. and Ladle, R.J. (2006) Environmental science adrift in the blogosphere. Science, 312: 201. Also see Ladle, R.J. (2006) "Blagging in the blogosphere" available on the BBC's Green Room science website.
• Todd, P.A., Briers, R.A., Ladle, R.J. and Middleton, F. (2006) Phenotypic-environment matching in the shore crab (Carcinus maenas). Marine Biology, 148: 1357-1367.
• Ladle, R.J. and Todd, P.A. (2006) Sex or Sanctuary: How do asexual worms survive the winter? Hydrobiologia, 559(1): 395-399.
• Brian, J.V., Fernandes, T., Ladle, R.J. and Todd, P.A. (2006) Patterns of morphological and genetic variability in UK populations of the shore crab, Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 329: 47-54.
• Todd, P.A. and Ladle, R.J. (2005) Designing hard-copy flexible learning materials: Lessons learnt from postgraduate courses in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. In, Tay, F.E.H, Tay, S.C. and Shen, H-M. (eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference for Education, 1: 86-93.
• Jepson, P. and Ladle, R.J. (2005) Bird-keeping in Indonesia. Conservation impacts and the potential for substitution-based conservation responses. Oryx, 39(4): 442-449. Appendices
• Araújo, M.B, Whittaker, R.J., Ladle, R.J., and Erhard, M. (2005) Reducing uncertainty in projections of extinction-risk from climate change. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 14: 529-539.
• Whittaker, R.J., Araújo, M.B., Jepson, P., Ladle, R.J., Watson, J.E.M and Willis, K.J. (2005) Conservation Biogeography: assessment and prospect. Diversity & Distributions, 11: 3-23.
• Ladle, R.J., Jepson, P. and Whittaker, R.J. (2005) Scientists and the Media: the struggle for legitimacy in climate change and conservation science. Interdisciplinary Science Review, 30(8): 231-240.
• Todd, P.A., Ladle, R.J., Briers, R.A. and Brunton, A. (2005) Quantifying two-dimensional dichromatic patterns using a photographic technique: case study of the shore crab (Carcinus maenas L.). Ecological Research, 20(4): 497-502.
• Ladle, R.J., Jepson, P., Araújo, M. and Whittaker, R.J. (2004) Dangers of crying wolf over risk of extinctions. Nature, 428: 799. Supplementary Material
• Ladle, R.J. (2004) Ecological Science Reporting: Another victim of global warming? British Ecological Society Bulletin, 35(4): 12-13.
• Todd P.A., Ladle, R.J., Lewin-Koh N.J.I., et al. (2004) Flesh or bone? Quantifying small scale coral morphology using with-tissue and without-tissue techniques. Marine Biology, 145(2): 323-328.
• Todd P.A., Ladle, R.J., Lewin-Koh, N.J.I. and Chou, L.M. (2004) Genotype x environment interactions in transplanted clones of the massive corals Favia speciosa and Diploastrea helippora. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 271: 167-182.