Ford, Adam Thomas
Research
Mechanistic responses of African mammalian herbivores to landscape change
Human activities are altering the characteristic tree-grass patchiness of savanna ecosystems as many landscapes are becoming homogenized by shrub encroachment or deforestation. In East Africa, many mammalian herbivores require both grass and shrub habitat types to access food and evade predators. I am using GPS collars to track high resolution (ca. every 20 min) movements of different-sized herbivores in areas where the amount of shrub varies. Data from these collars will be matched with simultaneous tracking data from one of the top predators in the area, the African wild dog. By understanding how foraging and predator avoidance decisions are made, results from this study will enable us to predict how landscape change alters mammal communities. Because my research occurs in a human occupied landscape, these results will also help ranch managers make land use decisions that will contribute toward wildlife management goals.
I would like to find ways for landowners to balance the economic gains derived from their land with wildlife conservation. Too often these values are seen as incompatible and either wildlife lose out, or economic use of the land is curtailed for the establishment of protected areas. In rural Kenya where humans and large, free roaming mammals have coexisted for millennia, there is still hope that we can balance these needs.
I had been working in wildlife conservation for a few years before I realized that I was missing some critical tools in my skill set. I initially thought of graduate school as a means to access training in new analytical techniques such as statistics and GIS. However, two years into my PhD, I have seen myself open up to a new world of skills that I did not imagine learning, such as effective collaboration, grant development, personnel management, language training and critical thinking.
I choose UBC for access to world-class faculty that have worked with wildlife in East Africa. In this respect the University of British Columbia is has no peer within Canada. It would be extremely challenging for a graduate student to develop the contacts, study site, and research infrastructure necessary to do work overseas without the help of experienced faculty.
I would advise prospective students to be patient with the process for which they have signed up. It is not a degree, but a journey, and that takes time to complete properly. Some parts of the journey will be treacherous, and yet others will make you wonder why everyone in the world isn't clamouring to become a grad student!
