Conservation Ecology & Entomology
Research
Wildlife Free To Roam (WFR)
WFR aims to scientifically delineate viable wildlife corridors to connect protected area habitats at the landscape scale, beginning with corridors putatively identified in the Greater Limpopo (GL) and Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) TFCAs. Postdoctoral researchers collect and model data on Ecological Network (EN) / wildlife corridor structure and function, while in-field PhDs monitor wildlife movements and landscape permeability. African elephants and the large predators are key focal species. MSc students in the Department of Mathematical Sciences apply a variety of tools, including spatially explicit Agent-based Models (ABM) to further predict habitats of conservation significance and Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) hotspots. Data will be assessed in collaboration with local stakeholders, including indigenous communities, to promote in-country development for sustainable corridor management plans. We work closely with our partner research programmes here at ConsEnt (MENP, Vertebrate Research and Conservation Management), and we actively pursue inter-/ trans-disciplinary collaborations at a global scale in the pursuit of effective and collaborative applied management solutions to connectivity conservation challenges.
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Contact: Dr Katharina von Dürckheim (kat@sun.ac.za)