IRES: Behavioral Ecology and Conservation of African Carnivores

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Technical abstract. IRES funds will permit four advanced undergraduates and four junior graduate students each year to spend a summer with my team in Kenya, conducting research on African carnivores. IRES funds permit students to utilize comparative methods, and to undertake projects designed to acquire new and useful information about the carnivores inhabiting the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. IRES funds also permit continuance of a training partnership with three Kenyan scientists and one young American PhD-level biologist; this team of trainers enables IRES students to address a broad array of research questions about the behavior, conservation and physiology of African carnivores, ranging from the evolution of their cognitive abilities to anthropogenic effects on their stress physiology. Opportunities to participate in this IRES project are widely advertized, and students are selected based on a set of criteria that include scholarship, creativity and diversity. Undergraduate participants will be selected from a huge national pool, and graduate student participants will be selected from a smaller local pool. Pairs of undergraduate and graduate students will be linked by topical research focus, and they will work closely with specific Kenyan trainers. All Kenyan trainers are closely affiliated with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS); initial training activities will take place at KWS HQ and at the KWS Training Institute. IRES students will then be transported to the Masai Mara National Reserve, in southwestern Kenya, where four of them will be housed at each of our two tented research camps. Students will spend several weeks developing and executing their field research projects in the Mara, working closely with Kenyan trainers and Kenyan students. While in Kenya, IRES students will also receive explicit training in science writing, and present their work orally at the Carnivore Researchers Conference held each year at KWS HQ. The research opportunities we offer to students are unparalleled, not only to investigate the biology of several carnivore species that remain very poorly understood, but also to make important contributions to behavioral ecology, stress physiology and conservation biology. In addition to providing support for one graduate student program assistant, IRES funding will profoundly influence the professional development of eight top American students each year, and offer them extraordinary opportunities to learn a wide array of field research skills in a spectacular natural setting. IRES students will receive training in, and conduct research projects investigating, both the basic and applied biology of African carnivores. The economic well-being of Kenya is intimately linked with conservation of African carnivores, but our ability to conserve these animals is often limited by how little we know about their basic biology. Guided by Kenyan trainers whose professional lives are dedicated to the conservation of African wildlife, IRES students will gather data to allow important improvements in the management policies used in Kenya's national parks and reserves. IRES participants will learn a great deal about African life and culture, and about the complexities associated with carnivore conservation in a developing nation. This IRES experience will thus contribute significantly to the development of a new generation of global scientists who are united in their desire to understand and protect the natural world. Non-technical abstract. This international research training program allows advanced undergraduates and junior graduate students to spend extended periods conducting field research on free-living African carnivores in Kenya, building on a strong long-term program of carnivore research in the Masai Mara National Reserve. Several students each year will undertake projects designed to acquire new and useful information about the carnivores inhabiting the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, and to develop strong, long-lasting professional relationships with Kenyan scientists. A strong team of American and Kenyan trainers will help students address a broad array of research questions about the behavior, conservation and physiology of African carnivores, ranging from the evolution of their cognitive abilities to effects of human activity on their stress physiology. Pairs of undergraduate and graduate students will be linked by topical research focus, and work closely with local experts. While in Kenya, students will receive explicit training in science writing, and present their work at an annual conference on carnivore biology sponsored by the Kenya Wildlife Service. The research opportunities offered to students here are unparalleled, not only to investigate the biology of several carnivore species that remain very poorly understood, but also to make important contributions to behavioral ecology, stress physiology and conservation biology. The knowledge acquired in this research should facilitate conservation of African carnivores, and thus contribute to the economic well-being of Kenya, which is intimately linked with revenues from eco-tourism. This research program will also contribute significantly to the professional development of a new generation of global scientists who are united in their desire to understand and protect the natural world.