Our research is structured around three key themes:
(i) To assess the role of mountainous regions in biodiversity conservation
(ii) The behavioural ecology of predator-prey interactions focussing on diurnal primates and their predators as a model system
(iii) Evaluating the nature and extent of human-wildlife interactions within the Soutpansberg Mountains
Conservation significance of montane environments
Protected areas are the cornerstone of local, regional, and global strategies for biodiversity conservation, although the value and importance of natural habitats outside of formally protected areas is increasingly recognised. As human populations continue to rise and human activities convert and degrade lowland habitats, mountainous regions are increasingly important to species conservation. Mountainous areas are often noted for high concentrations of endemic species of animals and plants and thus represent an important focus for conservation research. Our project is based in the Soutpansberg Mountain Range, an area recognized nationally as a centre of endemism and biodiversity. The mountains fall within the Vhembe UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and form part of the North-Eastern Escarpment Bio-region, a priority area for conservation research highlighted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Focussing principally on larger mammals, our research is assessing the ecology, biodiversity status and conservation potential of this montane environment to improve our understanding of the importance of mountainous regions in conservation planning
Predator-prey interactions
Predation has long been assumed to be an important selective force in primate social evolution, as well as a significant constraint on primate foraging behaviour. Nevertheless, the importance of distinguishing between the consumptive (direct) effects of predators (predation rates) and the non-consumptive or indirect risk effects (predation risk) has not always been well understood. Furthermore, the concept of the landscape of fear, which describes how prey perception of predation risk varies spatially, has relatively little attention in primatology despite its increasing utility for understanding risk effects in other taxa. Nonetheless, our work has shown that the effects of fear appear to outweigh those of food availability in determining primate range use, and primates may offer ideal study systems for understanding this trade-off. We use a range of methods to explore the landscape of fear, and risk effects more generally, including using acoustically distinct alarm calls, behavioural observations and experimental approaches. Recent evidence suggests that to understand the impact of predation on different mammalian prey species it is necessary to account for the pressure exerted by all of the major predators as well as the interactions of individual predator-prey combinations. Our study system is well suited to these requirements and allows us to study interactions from both predator and prey perspective.
While habituation and observational studies remain the cornerstone of primatology, we need to be mindful of the impacts our presence as researchers can have in changing primate risk perceptions. Our work is increasingly focussed on understanding the implications of this. The impact of human activities on natural habitats continues to increase and as a consequence it will become ever more difficult to understand the role of predator-prey interactions in shaping primate foraging behaviour.
Human-wildlife interactions
An important fact of our work is to understand how animals co-exist in anthropogenic landscapes. Large carnivores can place significant costs on human populations through threatening local livelihoods due to livestock depredation and predation on managed wildlife. Hunting and retaliatory killings of carnivores in response to perceived livestock depredation are common. While predation on domestic livestock is often cited as the most common cause of negative human-wildlife interactions (often referred to as human-wildlife conflict), crop damage by wild animals is also a significant issue, often causing farmers considerable economic loss and frustration, and undermining local conservation efforts. Because of their success as crop foragers, primates are often cited as a greater problem than large predators within the Soutpansberg Mountains. Our project aims to understand the dynamic nature of human-wildlife interactions in our study area. Our work has assessed actual levels of livestock predation alongside stakeholder perceptions, explored the viability of our predator populations under current pressures, assessed the species involved in crop foraging, investigated primate crop-foraging behaviour and tested various mitigation strategies. Through adopting interdisciplinary approaches to understanding human-wildlife interactions from both the human and wildlife perspectives we aim to develop sustainable long term strategies to support people living alongside wildlife and so aid mammalian conservation in the region.
Primate and Predator Project 