Lastly it is my long term goal to use the data from multiple studies on individual species in different regions of southern Africa to allow for a meta-study on the effects of land use type on wildlife biodiversity, relative abundance and human-wildlife conflict in Southern Africa.  A major problem in applying traditional behavioural ecology to landscape-level ecological problems is that ecologists and behaviourists work at very different spatial scales. Most studies on threats to and the loss of biodiversity rely on species distributional data and abundance estimates across a spectrum of different habitat types.  However it is only by examining such patterns at a broader scale that we can begin to disentangle the effects of global and local effects on animal communities.  I thus propose to compare terrestrial mammal communities using standardised methods across all study sites in different regions of southern Africa.  In all instances I will be comparing the presence/absence and relative abundance of species in relation to land use type, topography, climate, management practices and conservation policies. Such a landscape-conscious behavioural undertaking would not only establish more firmly the link between behaviour and ecological systems, but also catalyze the study of basic biological phenomena such as dispersal of interest to behaviourists and ecologists alike.

Using the above conceptual approach I have the planned the following research for the next six years:

 1) Behavioural and spatial ecology of baboons within and outside of commercial pine plantations in Mpumalanga province, South Africa.  This study, commissioned by Forestry South Africa aims to understand how and why baboons damage trees in commercial plantations and aims to first understand the behavioural and spatial ecology of this primate in a human altered agricultural habitat and then to use these data to devise sustainable solutions to this important agricultural sector.  Two Masters, one Doctoral and one Post-doctoral student will be engaged in this research. 

2)  Behavioural and spatial ecology of solitary and social predators in the Western Cape. This represents an extension of my earlier research on factors promoting solitary and eusocial lifestyles in mole-rats and meerkats.  It is my intention to expand this work to include a range of solitary and social carnivores while simultaneously providing important information on the main predators currently locked in conflict with farmers throughout the Western Cape Province.  Farmers state that persistent high predation rates by jackal, caracal and leopard are threatening the sustainability of livestock husbandry in the region. This study will be performed in collaboration with an economist (Dr Beatrice Conradie), a social scientist (Professor Natalie Nicoli) and a predator ecologist (Dr Quinton Martins) and aims to quantify the behaviour, life history and spatial ecology of these predators across a range of broad scale habitat types (large Karoo, Cederberg and Overberg) to assess how these variables are impacted by human activities and in turn influence the spatial and temporal patterns of livestock losses.  These studies propose to model the presence/absence and relative frequency of conflict at the landscape level and by including both economic and social variables offer the first regional approach to a persistent challenge to biodiversity management and farming.  Furthermore we propose to investigate potential conflict mitigation methods within an entire farming district of 21 farms.  This will allow for experimental and control farms within a single region and thus a rigorous platform for a comparison of the relative success and costs associated with different conflict mitigation measures.

In addition to the above research projects I currently have the following on-going research projects:

1)  Matthew Lewis: Marine foraging in Peninsula chacma baboons (Papio ursinus): the effects on behavioural and isotope ecology (PhD).

2) Bentley Kaplan: Human-baboon conflict mitigation strategies in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa (PhD).

3) Alison Kock: The behavioural and spatial ecology of white sharks in False Bay, South Africa (PhD). (Co-supervised with Prof. Charlie Griffiths and Kaya Mauff)

4) Christy Bragg: The ecological role of Cape porcupines in selected ecosystems in South Africa (PhD).

5) Neil Midlane: The conservation status, population dynamics and spatial ecology of lions in the Kafue National Park (PhD). (Co-supervised with Dr Guy Balme and Dr Luke Hunter).

6) Spatial ecology of leopards in the Gouritz region: the leopard as an umbrella or ambassador species for conservation corridors (PhD). (Supervised by Dr Dan Parker, Rhodes University, I am cosupervisor).

7) Behavioural ecology of Cape clawless otters in the Cape Peninsula: a potential bio-indicator of water pollution throughout the Western Cape (PhD).