Dr Bridgette Farnworth
Nocturnal spiders play a vital role in our ecosystem
Dr Bridgette Farnworth is a PostDoc in the area of Conservation. She has been awarded one of the six Two-year Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships(external link) by Royal Society of New Zealand.
Bridgette Farnworth has a PhD in Behavioural Ecology & Conservation Biology from the University of Waikato. Bridgette’s research background involves assessing the foraging behaviour of rodents, with a particular focus on understanding how wild rats respond to changes in light at night. At home in New Zealand, Bridgette has enjoyed working with a broad range of native species, including New Zealand dotterels, kiwi, blue ducks and carnivorous land snails... though her favourite animal remains the rat.
In her upcoming PostDoc research, she will research how pollution from artificial light at night (ALAN) is a threat for invertebrates. Nearly 60% of invertebrates are nocturnal and vulnerable to changes in anthropogenic lighting. Research has conclusively demonstrated that artificial light alters the behaviour of individual species. However, it remains unclear whether these behavioural changes reverberate throughout invertebrate communities and disrupt connections between different species.
