Barbara Anderson (scientist)

Barbara J. Anderson
Anderson in 2024
EducationUniversity of Otago (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsEcology
Thesis Something to do with community structure: the influence of sampling and analysis on measures of community structure (2006)

Barbara Jane Anderson is a New Zealand ecologist.[1][2]

Education

Anderson graduated with a PhD in botany from the University of Otago, Dunedin, in 2006.[3]

Research and career

Beginning in 2015, Anderson co-ordinated a citizen science project, Ahi Pepe MothNet, which encouraged members of the public to engage with moths at Orokonui Ecosanctuary.[4] The project brought public attention to the role of moths in the ecosystem and also provides schoolchildren and adults with an experience of "hands-on" science. As a result of the interest in the project, a bilingual Māori–English guide to New Zealand moths was published in 2018.[5][6] In 2017, a group of Dunedin schoolchildren were invited to present their experiences of the project to the World Indigenous People's Conference on Education in Toronto.[7]

As of 2021 Anderson was the President of The Otago Institute for the Arts and Sciences.[8]

IN 2019 Anderson was a Royal Society Rutherford Discovery Fellow based at Otago Museum[9] working with the museum's insect collection.

Notable achievements

In 2019, the New Zealand endemic moth species Ichneutica barbara was named in Anderson's honour.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Tea bag research brewing". Otago Daily Times. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Moths maligned and misunderstood". Stuff. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Anderson, Barbara Jane (2004). Something to do with community structure: the influence of sampling and analysis on measures of community structure : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand (Thesis). OCLC 156744054.
  4. ↑ "Barbara Anderson: moths and citizen science". Radio New Zealand. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Tipene-Allen, Rukuwai (30 July 2018). "New moth resource merges science and a Māori worldview". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
  6. ↑ "Meet the team". Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Students to spread wings on trip of a lifetime, leaving Dunedin for Canada for moth presentation". TVNZ. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "2021 Council". otago-institute.org. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  9. ↑ "A Moth Named Barbara". Otago Museum. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Hoare, Robert J. B. (9 December 2019). "Noctuinae (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) part 2: Nivetica, Ichneutica" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 80. Illustrator: Birgit E. Rhode: 1–455. doi:10.7931/j2/fnz.80. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q94481265. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2021.
  11. ↑ Lewis, John (17 December 2019). "New species named for Dunedin woman". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 15 December 2020.