Ecology and Conservation of African Landscapes

Only six percent of Africa's land area (containing a fraction of its biodiversity) is protected, and these areas are rarely large enough to sustain 'charismatic megafauna'. Mostly, wildlife must share land with people also facing survival challenges. This course will explore how wildlife and people interact in the Ewaso Ecosystem in central Kenya where new approaches to conservation are being developed. Lectures will cover the ecology of tropical grasslands and first principles underlying the forces shaping biodiversity patterns. Field trips and projects will examine the dynamics between human actions and biodiversity patterns.