Dr. David (Dave) Gower is a Merit Researcher in the Herpetology Section of the Natural History Museum, London. As an evolutionary biologist, he is a field- and collections-based organismal biologist with broad interests in documenting and understanding the taxonomic, phenotypic, and genetic diversity of vertebrates.

His research integrates diverse data and approaches — including morphology, DNA, palaeontology, systematics, fieldwork, monitoring, conservation, and biogeography — and involves extensive international collaboration. These collaborations have led to the description of more than 50 new species of amphibians and reptiles, including three from Seychelles.

Dr. Gower’s research focuses on limbless amphibians and reptiles, particularly caecilians and burrowing or aquatic snakes, and he also has taxonomic expertise in Triassic archosaurs. He is particularly interested in the evolutionary origins and conservation of Seychelles biodiversity, and in developing effective methods to study and monitor ecologically cryptic herpetofauna.

He has contributed to over 240 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and conference proceedings, including around 60 as first author.