IRES Track 1:Behavioral ecology and conservation of African carnivores

该项目的智力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，主要是因为它们在调节种间竞争和捕食者-猎物动态等重要生态系统过程中发挥关键作用，但许多食肉动物目前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其基本生物学知之甚少的限制。这个IRES培训计划旨在填补我们对非洲食肉动物的知识空白，同时也加强了年轻生物学家在职业生涯早期关键阶段的专业发展。优秀的本科生和大三的研究生每年都从有兴趣在肯尼亚对斑点鬣狗和其他非洲食肉动物进行实地研究的大量申请者中选出。食肉哺乳动物代表肯尼亚？中国最重要的自然资源，但其中许多仍然知之甚少。IRES学生有丰富的食肉动物物种选择，从中提取他们的研究课题。IRES的学生从事广泛的主题，从食肉动物认知的比较研究到模拟影响食肉动物种群规模的生态和人为力量。一些学生利用自然发生的变化来测试假设，而其他人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。这种安排使学生能够深入参与他们的工作，甚至在他们到达肯尼亚之前，他们也从个别格拉德生的精心指导中受益匪浅。研究生参与者，反过来，获得宝贵的指导经验，以及密切的美国和肯尼亚的同事共同感兴趣的问题工作。IRES项目将为培养新一代的全球科学家做出重要贡献，这些科学家团结一致，致力于了解和保护自然世界。IRES项目每年将邀请5名高年级本科生和5名低年级研究生在肯尼亚与经验丰富的培训师一起度过几个月，进行非洲食肉动物的研究。学生将利用比较方法，并进行旨在获得有关居住在马拉-塞伦盖蒂生态系统的食肉动物的新的和有用的信息的项目。IRES追求与三名肯尼亚科学家和一名年轻的美国博士级生物学家的培训合作伙伴关系的延续;这支培训师团队将帮助IRES学生解决有关非洲食肉动物的行为，保护和生理学的广泛研究问题，从他们的认知能力的演变到人为对其压力生理学的影响。 本科生和研究生团队将通过专题研究重点联系起来，他们将与特定的肯尼亚培训师密切合作。所有肯尼亚培训员都与肯尼亚野生动物管理局有密切联系。学生将花几个星期的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。提供给学生的研究机会是无与伦比的，不仅要调查仍然知之甚少的几个食肉动物物种的生物学，而且要对行为生态学，应激生理学和保护生物学做出重要贡献。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10名顶尖美国学生参与者的专业发展，并为他们提供非凡的机会，在壮观的自然环境中学习各种实地研究技能。IRES学生将接受培训，并进行研究项目调查，非洲食肉动物的基础和应用生物学。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其基本生物学知之甚少的限制。在肯尼亚培训师的指导下，他们的职业生涯致力于保护非洲野生动物，IRES学生将收集数据，以使肯尼亚国家公园和保护区的管理政策得到重要改进。IRES参与者将学习大量关于非洲的生活和文化，以及与发展中国家食肉动物保护相关的复杂性。因此，IRES的经验将大大有助于培养新一代全球科学家，他们团结一致，渴望了解和保护自然世界。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.