Johan Espunyes
Qualifications
Degree in Veterinary Science
MSc wildlife Management and Health
PhD in wildlife ecopathology
​
Position
Researcher
EZCM-WPH resident
​
ORCID: 0000-0002-8692-1593
Personal website: https://johanespunyes.wixsite.com/wildlife
Overview
​I am a researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Medicine research Group (WildCoM) since 2019. I am also a resident of the Wildlife Population Health specialty of the European College of Zoological Medicine, under the supervision of Dr. Oscar Cabezón. My current research focuses on emerging diseases in amphibians, health status of avian scavengers and the epidemiology of Canine Distemper Virus among wild mammal species.
Background
​I completed my Bachelor in Veterinary Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) in 2012. In 2013 I undertook the MSc in Wildlife Management and Health at the University of Murcia (Spain). My Master thesis involved the influence of communal pasturing on the spread of pestivirus infection among domestic and wild ungulates in Southern Spain.
​
I completed my PhD with the Wildlife Ecology & Health research group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2019. My PhD research aimed at improving the understanding of global change effects on the diet of a large alpine herbivore: the Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica). I mainly focussed on climate change and habitat change due to their strong impact in alpine ecosystems. My dissertation was based on four studies focussed on improving knowledge about the relationship between environmental conditions and resource-use in herbivores living in highly seasonal environments.
​
During this years I assisted different projects and research groups such as capturing and monitoring Ibex in the French Alps during a Brucellosis outbreak with the French National Hunting and Wildlife Agency (ONCFS), sampling hunted wildlife for Tuberculosis research with the Spanish Institute of Research in Game Resources (IREC) or working on wildlife management and recovery for the department of wildlife of the Andorran Government.
