Chris Jones

BSc (UP), BSc Hons (UKZN), MSc (UCT)

Chris has been drawn to wildlife and science for as long as he can remember – a trajectory that led him to a zoology degree at the University of Pretoria, where he first discovered the allure of remote sub-Antarctic islands like Gough and Marion.

He went on to complete his Honours degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he met his wife and long-term fieldwork partner, Michelle Risi, before they headed south for their first field season at one of the most remote places on earth, Gough Island, in 2014. The experience proved as life altering as one might imagine, setting them on a path to seek out remote places. Chris pursued an MSc through the Fitz, focusing on the ecology of two ‘super-populations’ of prions breeding on Gough Island, which he completed while continuing fieldwork on remote atolls in the Seychelles and on Marion Island from 2015 to 2018.

Chris has spent more than a decade living and working on remote islands, contributing to long-term ecological monitoring and conservation research on a range of taxa, particularly seabirds. His work has spanned population ecology, invasive species research, and the impacts of environmental change on island ecosystems.

His PhD focuses on how climate change affects surface-nesting seabirds breeding at Marion Island in the sub-Antarctic, with particular attention given to the small-scale conditions (such as temperature, wind, exposure) that determine whether a bird survives. Using ecological modelling tools, he works at the intersection of climate science and biology, trying to understand how large-scale climate patterns translate into lived experience for birds.

Thesis: Climate change impacts at breeding sites of surface-nesting seabirds in the Southern Ocean
Supervisors: A/Prof. Susan Cunningham, Prof. Emer. Peter Ryan, Dr Shannon Conradie

Selected scientific publications (full list on Google Scholar and ResearchGate)

Risi, M.M., Jones, C.W., Oppel, S., Bristol, C.A., O’Brien, M., Fleischer-Dogley, F. & Bunbury, N. (2025). Red-footed booby population thriving at globally significant Aldabra Atoll: insights from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle surveys. Oryx, 59 (5) 554–564 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605325000201

Jones, C.W., Diamond, A.W., van Rooyen, M.C. & Hennicke, J.C. (2025). Anomalous gular pouch displays in female Lesser (Fregata ariel) and Christmas Island frigatebirds (F. andrewsi). Biotropica, 57(3), e70038. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.70038

Jones, C.W., Ryan, P.G. & Sharpe, C.J. (2025). Gough Island Finch (Rowettia goughensis), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (Sly, N.D., ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.goifin1.02

Connan, M., Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Smyth, L.K., Oppel, S., Perold, V., … & Ryan, P.G. (2024). First evidence of mouse predation killing adult great albatrosses. Biological Invasions, 26(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03177-2

Clark, B.L., Carneiro, A.P., Pearmain, E.J., Rouyer, M.M., Clay, T.A., Cowger, W., … Jones, C.W., … & Quillfeldt, P. (2023). Global assessment of marine plastic exposure risk for oceanic birds. Nature Communications, 14, 3665. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38900-z

Oppel, S., Clark, B.L., Risi, M.M., Horswill, C., Converse, S.J., Jones, C.W., ... & Ryan, P.G. (2022). Cryptic population decrease due to invasive species predation in a long-lived seabird supports need for eradication. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59(8), 2059–2070. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14218

Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Osborne, A.M., Ryan, P.G. & Oppel, S. (2021). Mouse eradication is required to prevent local extinction of an endangered seabird on an oceanic island. Animal Conservation, 24(4), 637–645. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12670

Jones, C.W., Phillips, R.A., Grecian, W.J. & Ryan, P.G. (2020). Ecological segregation of two superabundant, morphologically similar, sister seabird taxa breeding in sympatry. Marine Biology, 167(4), 45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-3645-7
 
Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Osborne, A.M., Parker, G.C., Rexer-Huber, K., Le Bouard, F., … & Oppel, S. (2020). Abundance, distribution and breeding success of the endemic Gough Island finch (Rowettia goughensis) between 2009 and 2018. Emu – Austral Ornithology, 120(3), 230–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2020.1773859

Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Cleeland, J. & Ryan, P.G. (2019). First evidence of mouse attacks on adult albatrosses and petrels breeding on sub-Antarctic Marion and Gough Islands. Polar Biology, 42, 619–623. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-02444-6