Wildlife population ecology and human-wildlife interactions in and around Saadani National Park.

The project is aimed at capacity development at the Department of Wildlife Management at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, in teaching as well as in research. This will be done by improving the zoology laboratory facilities, training Ph.D.- and M.Sc.-students and supporting studies on wildlife ecology and human-wildlife interactions in and around the recently established Saadani National Park. The vertebrate thuna of the park will be inventoried and the ecology of selected model species will be studied. This park is confronted by a number of ecological threats that are related to human livelihood issueg in neighboüring conununities such as blockage of wildlife migratory corridors, habitat loss and use of natural resources. Given the complexities of the threats, both ecological and social studies are crucial. The project will investigate the possible causes, éffects and costs of conflict between local social actors and the park. The specific developmental objective of the project is thus to create a scientific basis for better management of the Saadani ecosystem, within and around the park, while the overall academie objective is to attain academie excellence in wildlife management research and training at SUA.

Keywords:WILDLIFE ECOLOGY

Disciplines:Ecology, Environmental science and management, Other environmental sciences

Project type:Collaboration project