IRES Track I: Engaging students in management oriented research to conserve rainforest primates in Uganda

To successfully conserve rainforest primates, the current challenges affecting their survival in the wild need to be identified and addressed. This type of research requires interaction among scientists and wildlife managers to solve conservation problems. Through this IRES funded project, U.S. undergraduates and first year graduate students from Hunter College of the City University of New York will conduct integrative management-oriented research that is aimed towards addressing primate conservation in Uganda.

During 8-week summer experiences over three years, eighteen students will conduct collaborative research with park wardens of the Uganda Wildlife Authority in Kibale National Park, Uganda, a tropical rainforest national park that hosts high densities of primates. Students will tackle problems related to three pressing conservation themes: 1) global change and primate nutrition; 2) ecotourism of wild apes; 3) invasive plant species in primate habitats.

By undertaking this research, students will be involved in an immersive experience in Uganda where they will gain field experience and learn about Ugandan culture at Makerere University’s Biological Field Station. They will develop their scientific skills by writing a research proposal that addresses primate conservation, constructing testable hypotheses and conducting fieldwork.

Students will then analyze, report and discuss their results in several forums in Uganda and the USA. They will learn how to communicate their results through the media in Uganda by working alongside journalists and public relations professionals. Hunter College is a minority serving institution and at least 50% of the students selected for this experience will be underrepresented minorities in the sciences.

Global change has pressing outcomes for tropical forests and their inhabitants even when they are protected in national parks. This is particularly true for monkeys and apes, because they grow more slowly, have longer lives and modest reproductive rates compared to most other mammals. To successfully conserve primates, empirical research needs to be combined with effective management.

Twelve undergraduates and six master’s students will conduct research for eight weeks in three summer cohorts in Kibale National Park, Uganda, a tropical rainforest in western Uganda that hosts a high diversity and density of primates. Students will investigate management-oriented research questions that will promote primate conservation under the guidance of Uganda Wildlife Authority professionals.

They will engage in research foci under three themes: (1) Students will investigate primate feeding ecology, nutritional chemistry of tree leaves, food availability and food density, and compare current patterns with long term datasets; (2) Students will examine different parameters of ecotourism in relation to how it might affect chimpanzee ecology and behavior; (3) Students will explore the ways that invasive and exotic shrubs affects plant community diversity and the primate food supply. At least half of all the student researchers will be underrepresented minority undergraduates and graduate students in STEM.

Students will participate in conservation efforts and integrate their research into conservation plans. They will learn how to prepare media briefs and communicate their research findings to the Ugandan public. Students will also present their research within several forums in New York City, at Hunter College and in Uganda.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.