Siteri Tikoca joined the NatureFiji-MarquetiViti team as a Conservation Officer in 2016. She is a specialist in moths, studying how their diversity and distributional patterns are influenced by habitat types and seasonality. But she also has broad experience studying both plants and animals in the marine, coastal and terrestrial habitats of Fiji. She currently manages multiple exciting projects, including: Fiji’s Bat – Brink of Extinction; Establishing a Site Conservation Plan for the Endangered Fijian Free-tailed Bat at Nakanacagi Cave; Red Listing of Fijian Tree Species; and Save Our Species –Conservation of the Fiji Acmopyle, a Forgotten National Icon.

Siteri earned her Master’s Degree in Biological and Chemical Sciences from the University of the South Pacific (USP), where she specialised in macromoths (Lepidoptera) in lowland forest habitats on Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. Before that, she worked with the South Pacific Regional Herbarium, where she was involved in specimen identification and curation, fieldwork for environmental impact assessments and biodiversity assessments, as well as community awareness. Siteri earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Marine Biology from USP in 2009.

Siteri can often be found moth trapping, chasing Fijian tree geckos, or monitoring Fiji’s only native and mostly threatened mammals, bats.