IRES Track 1:Behavioral ecology and conservation of African carnivores

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

The intellectual focus of this project is the behavioral ecology, physiology, and conservation of African carnivores. Mammalian carnivores are critical to the stability and integrity of ecosystems around the world, largely because they play key roles in regulating such important ecosystem processes as interspecific competition and predator-prey dynamics, yet many carnivores are currently threatened or endangered. The economic well-being of many developing nations in Africa is intimately linked with conservation of mammalian carnivores, but our ability to conserve these animals is often limited by how little we know about their basic biology. This IRES training program is designed to fill these gaps in our knowledge about African carnivores while also enhancing the professional development of young biologists at a critical early stage of their careers. Top undergraduates and junior graduate students are selected each year from large pools of applicants interested in conducting field research in Kenya on spotted hyenas and other African carnivores. Mammalian carnivores represent one of Kenya?s most important natural resources, yet many of them remain poorly understood. IRES students have a rich selection of carnivore species from which to draw their research subjects. IRES students work on a wide array of topics ranging from comparative study of carnivore cognition to modeling the ecological and anthropogenic forces affecting carnivore population sizes. Some students exploit naturally-occurring variation to test hypotheses, whereas others conduct experiments using equipment borrowed from our research camps. Each team of undergraduate and graduate students works closely with a specific Kenyan trainer. This arrangement allows students to get deeply involved in their work even before they arrive in Kenya, and they also benefit immensely from the careful guidance of individual grad students. Graduate student participants, in turn, acquire invaluable mentorship experience as well as close American and Kenyan colleagues working on problems of mutual interest. This IRES program will 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. This IRES project will engage five advanced undergraduates and five junior graduate students each year to spend several months in Kenya with experienced trainers, conducting research on African carnivores. Students will utilize comparative methods, and undertake projects designed to acquire new and useful information about the carnivores inhabiting the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. IRES pursues continuation of a training partnership with three Kenyan scientists and one young American PhD-level biologist; this team of trainers will help IRES 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 anthropogenic effects on their stress physiology. Teams 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). Students will spend several weeks developing and executing their field research projects, 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. The research opportunities offered 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, the IRES project is intended to influence the professional development of ten top American student participants 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. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.