Sally Wren

Sally is currently working towards a PhD at the University of Otago, researching methods for improving conservation of native New Zealand frogs, with a specific focus on Hamilton’s frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni) and the Maud Island frog (L. pakeka); these two species present similar problems to conservation management as a result of the same past and current threat processes, limited knowledge of their ecology and behaviour, and because in both cases remnant populations survived only on off-shore islands.
Her project involves developing protocols for the ex-situ population of Maud Island frogs currently held at the University, which will later be moved to Orana Wildlife Park for a long-term captive breeding programme. Sally also aims to inform methodology for future translocations through an analysis of the effectiveness of past translocations, determining the impact of follow-up translocations, and predicting the success of translocations in the presence of predation. As an introduction to these subjects Sally is carrying a SWOT analysis of amphibian expertise, both globally and in the New Zealand context. 

Sally is also a Programme Officer with the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, where she has recently led an update of the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP). This was carried out through the formation of a series of thematic working groups and Sally is now working with three of those working groups (Species Conservation Strategies, Captive Breeding and Reintroductions) and the Amphibian Survival Alliance to implement priority actions from the updated ACAP.  Sally spent several years at the Zoological Society of London. At ZSL she carried out the IUCN Red List assessments of freshwater fish and reptile species, helped develop the EDGE Amphibians project, and managed both the EDGE Fellows Programme (which provides financial support and training for aspiring conservationists from developing countries) and ZSL’s Mongolia Programme. Sally has a BSc in Zoology from Imperial College London and a MSc in Conservation from University College London.

Publications:

• Wren, S., Angulo, A., Meredith, H., Kielgast, J., Dos Santos, L., and Bishop, P., (eds) 2015. Amphibian Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Wren, S., Easton, L. J., Reilly, S. M. and Bishop P. J. (2015, January) Implications for Leiopelmatid frog monitoring from behavioural observations in the field and lab. Paper presented at the Society for Research on Amphibians and Reptiles in New Zealand (SRARNZ) 16^thBiennial Conference. Nelson, New Zealand. 
• Reilly, S., Essner Jr., R., Wren, S., Easton, L. and Bishop, P. J. (2015) Movement patterns in leiopelmatid frogs: Insights into the locomotor repertoire of basal anurans. Behavioural Processes 121: 43-53. 
• Curnick, D. J., Head, C. E. I., Danwei, H., Crabbe, M. J. C., Gollock, M., Hoeksema, B. W., Johnson, K. G., Jones, R., Koldewey, H. J., Obura, D. O., Rosen, B. R., Smith, D. J., Taylor, M. L., Turner, J. R., Wren, S., and Redding, D. W. (2015) Setting evolutionary-based conservation priorities for a phylogenetically data-poor taxonomic group (Scleractinian). Animal Conservation 18 (4): 303-395.
• Böhm, M., Collen, B., Baillie, J.E.M. ... Wren, S., et al. (2013) The conservation status of the world's reptiles. Biological Conservation 157: 372-385.
• 
Wren, S., Brown, H., Yadamsuren, A. & Dulamtseren, E. (2010, October) The EDGE of Existence Programme and Conservation of the Wild Camel. Paper presented at Camels in Asia and North Africa: Interdisciplinary workshop on their significance in past and present. Vienna, Austria.