John Davy-Bowker
Macroinvertebrate Taxonomist
John has a keen interest in macroinvertebrates including conservation, species identification and sample processing methods, biomonitoring, citizen science, DNA collections, and long-term monitoring.
Being passionate about protecting freshwater biodiversity, he has had a long involvement with RIVPACS predictive model, and has led most of the research and development projects on this in recent years. He has also contributed to the development of biotic indices and the standardisation of sampling methods for deep river sampling.
John maintains his own reference collection of freshwater macroinvertebrates, and has also refined macroinvertebrate sample processing techniques and teaches students how to process samples accurately and efficiently. He undertakes external audit quality control sample processing, and collects species for DNA collection at the Natural History Museum. John also holds various teaching roles, delivering a range of courses for the Freshwater Biological Association and contributing to courses for Bournemouth University and the University of Southampton. John has carried out numerous surveys searching for rare mayflies and stoneflies in the UK, and rediscovered the critically endangered stonefly Isogenus nubecula in North Wales in 2017, a species now extinct from Western Europe apart from this single isolated find.
