Johnathon (Johno) studied for a Conservation and Ecology Honours degree at Lincoln University.
He began work at Canterbury Museum as a Collection Technician in 2016, eventually becoming an Associate Curator Natural History in 2019. Johno assists researchers in accessing significant Natural History collections at the Museum, predominately the alcohol, mollusc and pinned insect collections. Areas of research interest include entomology (insects), arachnids (spiders and harvestmen) and online publication of Museum collection biodiversity data to repositories like the Atlas of Living Australia and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Johno also helps facilitate and support the work of Research Fellows. This includes doing field work to collect new specimens for the collection. An ongoing project involves collecting mayflies for Research Fellows Terry and Tim Hitchings to identify or describe as new species. Another interest is assisting researchers to apply new techniques to safely extract information from collections. An example is a collaboration with researchers at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research to develop ways to extract pollen off old insect specimens without damaging them. His ongoing focus is to prepare and clean Canterbury Museum collection data from a range of Natural History collections to be published online. This work allows for wider use of the collections by researchers and other interested stakeholders.
Johno is the Membership Officer for the New Zealand Entomology Society. Outside of work, you will find him walking in the hills and native forests with his wife and dog or playing boardgames with friends.
