Synopsis:  Using intensive field surveys and remote sensing technology, this project investigated spatial ecology of large carnivores (lions) reintroduced to a newly established South African nature reserve.  My work runs in parallel and collaboration with other projects that study impacts of reintroduced mega-herbivores (elephants). 

Reintroducing large predators and mega-herbivores can cause cascade effects on the environment and should be monitored to detect and prevent potential adverse effects on ecosystems.  Predators are known to regulate prey population through direct predation and indirectly through a 'landscape of fear' that affect prey behaviour and space use, and consequently their fitness; ultimately cascading into vegetation structure and composition changes.  Mega-herbivores, like elephants, impact biodiversity at various levels ('intermediate disturbance hypothesis'), including structural changes in vegetation and microhabitats that leads to changes in species diversity and community composition.  Understanding and applying these concepts is essential to formulate informed management decisions.

Testing these concepts in a hypothesis driven research is instrumental in understanding the effects of wildlife reintroduction on ecosystems and to provide valuable insights into wildlife dynamics and broader ecological implications. My research project undertook such work in Dinokeng Game Reserve (DGR), a newly established conservation initiative where several landowners dropped their fences and incorporated their privately owned land into a larger conservancy area, facilitating wildlife reintroduction and ecosystem restoration.  It is the first time in over 100 years that predators roam freely in DGR, hence naïve prey was expected to take time in adapting to the presence of predators while vegetation changes by elephants were expected to affect the associated biodiversity.  Focusing on such issues, our results bridge interests of wildlife users, managers, researchers and conservationists by providing spatially explicit and easily transferable model system for formulating management practices for new reserves and small wildlife populations.