世界遺産ギニア・ニンバ山における先端技術を用いた土地利用評価及び生物多様性保全
| Project/Area Number |
19J11961
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 国内 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 39070:Landscape science-related
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
Fitzgerald Maegan 京都大学, 理学研究科, 特別研究員(DC2)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-25 – 2021-03-31
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| Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2020)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
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| Keywords | conservation / biodiversity / landscape ecology / community development / capacity building / chimpanzees |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
The Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem, West Africa, is a global biodiversity hotspot that has undergone dramatic deforestation and fragmentation. This ecosystem has been a stronghold for many endemic plant and animal species, including the Critically Endangered Western chimpanzee. Guinea holds about 6% of the remaining intact, a portion can be found in southeastern Guinea within the UNESCO Mont Nimba Biosphere Reserve. I will analyze historical land-use and land-cover changes in this region and conduct biodiversity and anthropogenic threat assessments to inform conservation and land-use planning.
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The overall aim of my research is to contribute knowledge on biodiversity, land use patterns, and landscape vulnerabilities within the Greater Nimba Landscape, Guinea, Africa. Towards this aim, I identified three main objectives: (1) spatio-temporal land-use and land-cover change analysis, (2) implementation of spatial monitoring tools for biodiversity and hunting threat assessments, and (3) threat-based spatially explicit modeling. During the previous year, I focused on objectives (1) and (2). I traveled to the University of Maryland to work with researchers at the Global Land Analysis and Discovery laboratory to quantify tree cover loss in Guinea between 2000 and 2018 (Obj. 1). Additionally, I spent 3 months in Guinea reestablishing a research presence within the Nimba mountains. Myself and a group of research assistants set up two camps in Nimba from which we ran multi-day research trips. During these trips we set up a network of camera traps and conducted field surveys to collect data on biodiversity and hunting (Obj. 2).The next year, I aim to make significant progress towards completing my PhD and contributing knowledge that will help to balance socioeconomic activities with conservation activities in the Great Nimba Landscape.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
During the previous year, I made significant progress in my Ph.D. research. Both of the first two objectives (discussed above) are progressing well and nearing completion. For objective (1), collaborators at the University of Maryland and I were able to develop region-specific data layers and algorithms to reduce errors in identifying tree cover loss. We then extracted samples from the resulting data for use in identifying drivers of tree cover loss across the Greater Nimba Landscape. Next year these analyses will be completed and submitted for publication. Towards objective (2), I was able to obtain over 500 videos of wildlife at high resolution from our camera trap network within the Nimba mountains. From our daily surveys we were also able to collect spatial and temporal behavioral ecology data on chimpanzees, other wildlife, and hunting threats within the mountains. We will continue these collection efforts into the next year. I also took this opportunity to introduce a mobile data collection application that I tailored for our research site and aims. This allows our team to continue collecting data on their own and to easily upload and send all survey data to me while I am in Japan.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the upcoming year I plan to use data from these objectives to work on objective (3) in which we identify conservation priority areas across the Greater Nimba Landscape, assesses landscape vulnerabilities, and evaluate trade-offs between socioeconomic development and conservation. Our research team is continuing to check our camera traps and conduct daily field surveys so that we can have more continuous and comprehensive data for these analyses. During the next year, I plan to return to Guinea to check on these research teams, upload camera trap footage, and gather data on the biodiversity and hunting threats within the Nimba Mountains. I will also continue to lead community outreach meetings to create open dialogue with local populations and to create community supported and eventually community led conservation initiatives and research projects. Additionally, I hope to conduct interviews in the Nimba region to identify the local community perceptions towards conservation and research activities, as well as identify the motivations for hunting and other subsistence activities in and around the Nimba mountains. The data from these interviews will assist with identifying conservation priorities and working with communities in a more efficient and effective way moving forward. By the end of this year I should have at least 2 manuscripts ready for publication that will also make up two chapters of my PhD dissertation.
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Report
(1 results)
Research Products
(8 results)
