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

NSF IRES向杜克大学热带研究组织(OTS)提供的拨款将为15名美国本科生提供为期六周的实地考察机会，为期三个夏天，以获取从事南非重大野生动物管理问题的科学和研究技能。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全方位的科学培训。参加这项由NSF资助的实践研究项目的学生是从OTS为期一学期的“非洲生态与保护”项目中竞争性地挑选出来的，因此利用他们之前15周的培训和经验来参与这一以实地为基础的强化项目。参加OTS本科课程的美国本科生中，约有四分之一来自科学界代表性不足的群体；通过OTS的积极招聘计划，我们预计类似比例的学生将成为本次研究经历的一部分。OTS本科课程在南非克鲁格国家公园内进行，学生们可以在一个主要的国家公园进行研究，并通过与南非公园管理局(SANParks)的密切合作，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赠款将使三年中每年夏天的五名学生能够专注于研究大象对稀树草原生态系统的影响。克鲁格国家公园(KNP)是大约1.5万头大象的家园。由于公园外土地利用的长期变化，大象的种群密度、分布和活动都随着时间的推移而发生了变化。目前，大象对生物多样性既有积极影响，也有消极影响。一个具有重要管理意义的关键科学研究问题涉及大象觅食行为如何改变自然植被和相关的动物群。桑帕克？S的任务是从各个方面和各个方面保护生物多样性，在大象影响的不确定性下，KNP管理层正在讨论是否制定新的大象政策。这项政策的争论和合法性的核心是提供科学证据，说明大象种群对稀树草原生态系统的功能产生的直接和间接影响。通过IRES助学金，学生们将研究大象对植物群落的影响，评估个别物种和受大象喂养影响的植物群落的弹性。其次，学生将在公园内一系列植被结构不同的地点进行生物多样性调查(鸟类、蝙蝠、蚂蚁、小型哺乳动物和屎甲虫)，以了解植被结构的变化可能如何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，包括来自美国科学界代表性不足的群体的学生，将通过研究关键物种对受保护公园生态系统的影响获得国际研究经验；将学习如何通过参与最终的园区范围研讨会来有意义地交流研究成果；并将发现他们的发现如何影响与科学和环境相关的复杂决策过程。作为未来的研究人员和科学领袖，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索是一个极好的机会，让我们看到科学的行动和它在社会中所起的作用。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室资助。

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.