| Research Interests: | I am working at the intersection of movement ecology, landscape ecology and connectivity modelling, with applications in conservation. My main research interests are at the interface of movement ecology and connectivity conservation. Animal movement plays a pivotal role in landscape connectivity, and understanding movement of individuals within or among populations has profound implications for conservation and wildlife management in today's increasingly fragmented landscapes. I have been working with data from various taxa of large carnivores, ungulates, and birds in Europe, Africa and North America towards understanding the causes and consequences of ranging behavior, dispersal, and migration, and the relationships between movement, habitat suitability at multiple scales, and landscape connectivity. My main goal is to develop innovative approaches to integrate movement explicitly into landscape connectivity modeling, to not only identify the most likely linkages, but also to assess the time scale of inter-patch connectivity to better inform conservation planning. |
| Present Position: | 2025-present Principal Researcher (Research professor) – Vilnius University, Lithuania 2025-present Research Associate – Nelson Mandela University, George Campus, George, South Africa 2024-present Founder – FatBear wildlife science solutions, global, based in Switzerland Data analysis – Movement and space use analyses, Habitat selection modelling and mapping, Connectivity modelling and mapping, Conservation and wildlife management planning Teaching – Applied movement data analysis in R (movement, habitat and connectivity modelling) |
| Education: |
PhD 2014 University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa MSc 2005, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland |
| Experience (Past Positions): | 2016-2025 Honorary Research Fellow – University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa 2022-2023 Leader, Terrestrial Wildlife Group – Ecotec Environnement, Switzerland • Developed and coordinated applied research projects • Supported data analyses, drafted technical documents and provided expert reports • Managed project finances • Research and monitoring o brown hare population monitoring in Geneva and Vaud; national coordination o monitoring of game impact on forest in Geneva and Vaud 2019-2021 Post-doctoral researcher –University of Wyoming, USA Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit & Wyoming Migration Initiative • Research – Developed mapping techniques and models of migration connectivity for ungulates • Teaching – ‘Modelling landscape connectivity in R’ • Teaching – ‘Intro to R for wildlife ecologists’ 2016-2018 Post-doctoral researcher – Vogelwarte Swiss Ornithological Institute, Switzerland • Research – Analysed dispersal movement and modelled landscape suitability for little owls • Teaching – ‘Animal telemetry data analyses in R’ 2015 Post-doctoral researcher – University of Montana, USA • Research – Developed movement-based models of landscape connectivity • Teaching – Lectured postgrads on landscape connectivity • Teaching – Lectured undergrads on leopard conservation and spatial ecology 2014 Post-doctoral researcher – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa • Research – Modelled wildlife movement and landscape suitability, diverse taxa 2010-2014 PhD candidate – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa MunYaWana Leopard Project, Panthera, USA • Research – Modelled movement data to advance knowledge of spatial organisation dynamics, dispersal and landscape connectivity for leopards • Fieldwork – Captures and collaring, radio-tracking, camera-trapping, distance sampling • Teaching – Ran undergrad lab in population and community ecology 2008-2009 Wildlife biologist – FiWi, Vetsuisse Faculty, Universität Bern, Switzerland • Research – Analysed the risk of wild boar disease spillover to domestic pig • Teaching – Introduction to GIS to veterinary graduate students 2006-2008 Wildlife biologist – KORA Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management, Switzerland • Research – Modelled population size of Eurasian lynx based on photographic capture-recapture • Fieldwork – Camera trapping, captures and collaring 2004-2005 MSc candidate – Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland Interreg Wild Boar Project – Wildlife Service of Canton Geneva, Switzerland • Research – Estimated density and analysed space use of wild boar in an agro-ecosystem • Fieldwork – Captures and collaring, radio-tracking, camera trapping |
| Supervision of Doctoral Students: | 2026-present M Visagie, PhD candidate – Nelson Mandela University, South Africa Spatio-temporal coexistence of lions and spotted hyenas in Kruger National Park 2026-present S Kosmas, PhD candidate – Universidade do Porto, Portugal Large carnivore niche partitioning in a prey-depleted ecosystem in Angola 2025-present S Tokota, PhD candidate – Nelson Mandela University, South Africa A regional assessment of leopard (Panthera pardus) population status, threats, distribution, and habitat connectivity in the Eastern Cape, South Africa 2025-present J Broers, PhD candidate – Université de Liège, Belgium Human-elephant coexistence: an interdisciplinary investigation in the Congo Basin 2024-present M Rodriguez, PhD candidate – Universitat de Barcelona, Spain Enhancing Coexistence: Understanding Large Carnivore Mobility in Different Wildlife-Based Land Use Patterns in South Africa 2021-present R Leeman, PhD candidate (part time) – Nottingham Trent University, UK Monitoring wildlife populations using tourist photographs 2021-2022 S Vissia, PhD candidate – Wageningen University, Netherlands Structures of competitive coexistence within a rich large carnivore guild 2016-2021 J Wevers, PhD candidate – Universiteit Hasselt, Belgium Living in the Anthropocene: Wild boar and roe deer ecology in a human-dominated landscape 2018-2020 A R Braczkowski, PhD candidate – University of Queensland, Australia The population monitoring and conflict of large carnivores in East Africa and India 2017-2020 P Vajas, PhD candidate – Université de Montpellier, France Modelling impact of hunting effort on contrasted wild boar populations 2016-2020 L C Gigliotti, PhD candidate – Clemson University, USA Individual, population, and community-level drivers of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) population dynamics 2016-2018 D R Mills, PhD candidate – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Ecology and conservation of African forest carnivores: niche partitioning in the absence of apex predators 2014-2017 R T Pitman, PhD candidate – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Applied carnivore management in a data deficient world: leopard Panthera pardus as a case study 2014-2015 K Morelle, PhD candidate – Université de Liège, Belgium Wild boar movement ecology across scales: Insights from a population expanding into agroecosystems of Southern Belgium |
| Publications: | LABT_LMAVB GoogleScholar |
| Academic Cooperation: | Nelson Mandela University, South Africa Université de Liège, Belgium |
| Other Related Activities: | I am a member of the IUCN Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group, the Southern African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA), the Wild Ungulates Working Group of the Swiss Society for Wildlife Biology (SGW-SSBF), and the collaborative research initiatives EURODEER, EUREDDEER, EUROBOAR and AFRIMOVE |
| Languages: | English, French |