International Research Experiences for Students: A Program for Undergraduates in Kruger National Park, South Africa

NSF IRES授予杜克大学热带研究组织（OTS）的资金将为15名美国本科生提供为期六周的实地机会，在三个夏天的课程中获得科学和研究技能，研究南非重大的野生动物管理问题。OTS自2004年以来一直在南非提供学期课程，通过体验式学习为来自美国和南非的本科生提供整体科学培训。参加这个NSF资助，动手，研究经验的学生是从OTS的“非洲生态与保护”学期计划中竞争性地选择的，从而利用他们15周的事先培训和经验参加这个密集的实地计划。参加OTS本科课程的美国本科生中，约有四分之一来自科学领域代表性不足的群体;通过OTS的积极招募计划，我们预计类似的部分将成为这项研究经验的一部分。OTS本科课程在南非克鲁格国家公园内进行，学生可以在一个主要的国家公园进行研究，并与南非公园管理局（SANParks）密切合作，通过他们对野生动物管理问题的研究做出有意义的贡献。事实上，NSF IRES赠款将使五名学生每年夏天三年专注于研究大象对热带草原生态系统的影响。克鲁格国家公园（KNP）是大约15,000头大象的家园。由于公园外土地使用的长期变化，大象的种群密度、分布和运动随着时间的推移而发生变化。目前，大象对生物多样性既有积极的影响，也有消极的影响。一个具有重要管理意义的关键科学研究问题是大象的进食行为如何改变自然植被和相关的动物群落。SanPark？KNP的任务是保护生物多样性的所有“方面和通量”，由于大象影响的不确定性，KNP管理层正在讨论是否制定新的大象政策。这项政策的辩论和合法性的核心是提供科学证据，证明大象数量直接和间接地对热带草原生态系统的功能产生影响。通过IRES赠款，学生将进行大象对植物群落的影响的研究，评估个别物种和植物群落的弹性受大象喂养的影响。其次，学生将进行生物多样性调查（鸟类，蝙蝠，蚂蚁，小型哺乳动物和蜣螂）在公园内的一系列不同的植被结构的网站，以了解如何在植被结构的变化可能会影响居民动物群落的组成和多样性。更广泛的影响。参加IRES项目的学生，包括来自美国科学领域代表性不足的群体的学生，通过研究关键物种对受保护公园生态系统的影响，将获得国际研究经验;将学习如何通过参加最后的公园范围内的研讨会，有意义地交流研究成果;并将发现他们的发现如何影响复杂的科学和环境相关的决策过程。作为未来的研究人员和科学领导者，他们无疑将面临平衡人类和环境需求的争议，接触这种多维的科学探究是一个很好的机会，可以看到科学在行动中及其在社会中扮演的角色。

The NSF IRES grant to the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) at Duke University will provide 15 U.S. undergraduate students with a six-week, field-based opportunity over the course of three summers to acquire science and research skills working on a significant wildlife management issue in South Africa. OTS has been offering semester programs in South Africa since 2004, providing undergraduate students from the U.S. and South Africa with holistic science training through experiential learning. The students participating in this NSF-funded, hands-on, research experience are selected competitively from OTS' semester-long program on "African Ecology and Conservation," thus leveraging their 15-weeks of prior training and experience to participate in this intensive field-based program. Approximately one quarter of U.S. undergraduates participating in OTS' undergraduate programs are from groups underrepresented in the sciences; through OTS' active recruiting program, we expect a similar portion will be part of this research experience.Intellectual Merit. The OTS undergraduate program takes place within Kruger National Park, South Africa, where students are given privileged access to conduct research in a major national park and, in working in close collaboration with the South African Parks Service (SANParks), can make meaningful contributions through their research to wildlife management issues. In point of fact, the NSF IRES grant will enable five students each summer for three years to focus specifically on research studying elephant impacts on savanna ecosystems. Kruger National Park (KNP) is home to an elephant population of about 15,000 individuals. Because of long-term changes in land use outside the park, the elephant population density, distribution, and movement has changed through time. At present, elephants are known to have both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity. A critical scientific research question with important management implications concerns how elephant feeding behavior is changing natural vegetation and associated faunal communities. The SANPark?s mandate is to protect biodiversity in all of its "facets and fluxes" and, with the uncertainty around elephant impacts, KNP management is debating whether or not to institute a new elephant policy. Central to the debate and legitimacy of the policy is the provision of scientific evidence on the effect elephant populations are having on the functioning of savanna ecosystems, both directly and indirectly. Through the IRES grant, students will conduct research on the effect of elephants on plant communities, assessing the resiliency of individual species and plant communities impacted by elephant feeding. Secondly, students will conduct biodiversity surveys (birds, bats, ants, small mammals, and dung beetles) within the park at a range of sites that vary in vegetation structure to understand how a change in vegetation structure might affect resident faunal community composition and diversity. Broader Impacts. Students participating in the IRES program, including students from groups under-represented in the sciences in the U.S., will gain an international research experience by studying the impact of a keystone species on a protected park's ecosystem; will learn how to communicate research outputs meaningfully through participation in a final park-wide symposium; and will discover how their findings can influence complex science- and environmental-related decision-making processes. As future researchers and science leaders who undoubtedly will face the controversy of balancing human and environmental needs, exposure to such multi-dimensional scientific inquiry represents an excellent opportunity to see science in action and the role it plays in society.This award is funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.