Barbara Jane Anderson is a New Zealand ecologist.

Education

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

Research and career

Beginning in 2015, Anderson co-ordinates a citizen science project, the Ahi Pepe MothNet project which encourages members of the public to engage with moths at

Orokonui Ecosanctuary thumb Orokonui Ecosanctuary, called Te Korowai o Mihiwaka in Māori, is an ecological island wildlife reserve developed by the Otago Natural History Trust in the Orokonui Valley between Waitati and Pūrākaunui, New Zealand, to the north of cen ...

. 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 Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

–English guide to New Zealand moths was published in 2018. 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. Anderson is the President of The Otago Institute for the Arts and Sciences. Anderson is a Royal Society Rutherford Discovery Fellow based at the

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

working with the museum's insect collection.

Notable achievements

In 2019 Anderson had the New Zealand endemic moth species '' Ichneutica barbara'' named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Barbara 21st-century New Zealand women scientists 21st-century New Zealand scientists University of Otago alumni Science communicators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women ecologists