International Research Fellow Awards Program: Boundary Analysis of Mammal Densities in Protected, Pastoral and Agropastoral Landscapes in Western Tanzania

0076213CoppolilloInternational Research Fellow Awards Program（国际研究员奖励计划）使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。 该项目的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施，专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将为Peter Coppolillo博士提供24个月的支持，与Simon Mduma博士在坦桑尼亚塞伦盖蒂野生动物研究中心合作。该项目的目标是了解限制物种在半自然栖息地分布的因素。 研究人员将研究牲畜放牧强度（资源竞争），人类存在（干扰竞争），木材砍伐（栖息地改造）和景观变化的影响。 具体而言，他们将使用一个边界模型来组织取样，该模型将审查景观单元（保护区、牧区和农牧区）之间的过渡。 将使用多元逻辑回归和主成分分析对数据进行分析。 这项工作将为了解半自然基质生境对保护区的影响提供重要的观测基础。 这将有助于分解影响大型哺乳动物分布的因素，并确定未来实验研究的关键变量。 Mduma博士是位于坦桑尼亚阿鲁沙的塞伦盖蒂生物多样性项目（SBP）的负责人。 该项目所在地鲁夸河山谷是一个理想的地点，因为它具有地方特色，而且它将提供关于一个代表性不足的生态系统Miombo林地的重要生态数据。***

0076213CoppolilloThe International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will provide Dr. Peter Coppolillo with support for twenty-four months to work with Dr. Simon Mduma at the Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre in Tanzania.The goal of this project is to understand the factors limiting species' distributions in semi-natural habitats. The researchers will examine the effects of livestock grazing intensity (resource competition), human presence (interference competition), wood cutting (habitat modification), and landscape change from cultivation (fragmentation). Specifically, they will structure sampling using a boundary model, which examines transitions between landscape units (protected, pastoral and agropastoral areas). Data will be analyzed using multiple logistic regression and principal components analysis. This work will provide an important observational basis for understanding the effects of semi-natural matrix habitat on protected areas. This will help disaggregate the factors affecting large mammal distributions and identify key variables for future experimental investigation. Results will provide insights helpful to protected area management and for community-based conservation.Dr. Mduma is director of the Serengeti Biodiversity Program (SBP) located in Arusha, Tanzania. The location of this project, the Rukwa Valley is an ideal site because of its local salience and because it will provide important ecological data on an underrepresented ecosystem, Miombo woodlands. ***