IRES Track 1:Behavioral ecology and conservation of African carnivores

这个项目的知识重点是非洲食肉动物的行为生态学、生理学和保护。哺乳动物食肉动物对世界各地生态系统的稳定性和完整性至关重要，这在很大程度上是因为它们在调节物种间竞争和捕食者-猎物动态等重要生态系统过程中发挥着关键作用，但许多食肉动物目前正受到威胁或濒临灭绝。非洲许多发展中国家的经济福祉与哺乳动物食肉动物的保护密切相关，但我们保护这些动物的能力往往受到我们对它们的基本生物学知之甚少的限制。IRES培训计划旨在填补我们对非洲食肉动物知识的这些空白，同时也促进年轻生物学家在其职业生涯的关键早期阶段的专业发展。每年，顶尖的本科生和初级研究生都是从大量申请者中挑选出来的，这些申请者对在肯尼亚进行斑点鬣狗和其他非洲食肉动物的实地研究感兴趣。哺乳动物食肉动物代表着肯尼亚最重要的自然资源之一？S，但其中许多人仍然知之甚少。IRES的学生有丰富的食肉动物物种可供选择，可以从中选择他们的研究对象。IRES的学生从事广泛的主题研究，从食肉动物认知的比较研究到影响食肉动物种群数量的生态和人类力量的建模。一些学生利用自然发生的变异来检验假设，而另一些学生则使用从我们的研究营地借来的设备进行实验。每个本科生和研究生团队都与一名特定的肯尼亚培训师密切合作。这种安排使学生在到达肯尼亚之前就可以深入参与到他们的工作中来，他们也从研究生个人的精心指导中受益匪浅。反过来，研究生学员获得了宝贵的指导经验，以及在共同感兴趣的问题上工作的亲密的美国和肯尼亚同事。这一IRES项目将极大地促进新一代全球科学家的发展，他们团结在一起，渴望了解和保护自然世界。该IRES项目每年将邀请五名高级本科生和五名初级研究生在肯尼亚与经验丰富的培训师一起度过几个月，进行关于非洲食肉动物的研究。学生将利用比较的方法，开展旨在获得有关生活在马拉-塞伦盖蒂生态系统中的食肉动物的新的有用信息的项目。IRES继续与三名肯尼亚科学家和一名年轻的美国博士级生物学家建立培训伙伴关系；这支培训师团队将帮助IRES的学生解决一系列关于非洲食肉动物的行为、保护和生理学的研究问题，从他们认知能力的演变到人类对其应激生理的影响。本科生和研究生团队将通过专题研究重点联系在一起，他们将与特定的肯尼亚培训师密切合作。所有肯尼亚驯兽师都与肯尼亚野生动物服务机构(KWS)有密切联系。学生们将花几周时间开发和执行他们的实地研究项目，与肯尼亚培训师和肯尼亚学生密切合作。在肯尼亚期间，IRES的学生还将接受科学写作方面的明确培训，并在每年在KWS举行的食肉动物研究人员会议上口头介绍他们的工作。为学生提供的研究机会是无与伦比的，不仅可以研究几种仍然知之甚少的食肉动物物种的生物学，还可以在行为生态学、应激生理学和保护生物学方面做出重要贡献。除了为一名研究生项目助理提供支持外，IRES项目还旨在影响每年十名美国顶尖学生参与者的专业发展，并为他们提供在壮观的自然环境中学习广泛的实地研究技能的非凡机会。IRES的学生将接受非洲食肉动物基础生物学和应用生物学方面的培训，并进行研究项目。肯尼亚的经济福祉与非洲食肉动物的保护密切相关，但我们保护这些动物的能力往往受到我们对它们的基本生物学知之甚少的限制。在职业生涯致力于保护非洲野生动物的肯尼亚培训员的指导下，IRES的学生将收集数据，以便对肯尼亚国家公园和保护区使用的管理政策进行重要改进。IRES的参与者将了解许多关于非洲的生活和文化，以及与发展中国家肉食动物保护相关的复杂性。因此，IRES的经验将极大地促进新一代全球科学家的发展，他们团结在一起，渴望了解和保护自然世界。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.