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CARNIVORES & LANDSCAPES PROJECT
Carnivores persist in a wide variety of habitats in Malawi, both inside and outside protected areas. Since 2013 we have been working across a variety of landscapes and field sites in Malawi to try to understand the landscape level drivers of carnivore density and abundance.
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We are working in the highlands of Nyika, to the lowlands of the Shire valley to try to understand how carnivores are managing to exist and persist in a variety of landscapes.
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For example we seek to understand what resources they require to survive outside protected areas, and whether in such areas they are reliant on nearby protected parks.
We are comparing the diet and density of leopard and hyaen across six study areas including, Lilongwe City, Salima, Kasungu National Park, Nyika National Park, Vwaza Marsh and Liwonde National Park to see how flexible they are in adapting to landscape level change.
For example we seek to understand what resources they require to survive outside protected areas, and whether in such areas they are reliant on nearby protected parks.
We are comparing the diet and density of leopard and hyaen across six study areas including, Lilongwe City, Salima, Kasungu National Park, Nyika National Park, Vwaza Marsh and Liwonde National Park to see how flexible they are in adapting to landscape level change.
Understanding how carnivores adapt to different environments and habitats helps us to understand how to conserve and manage populations under increasing habitat loss.
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Check out some of our publications from this work here.