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Henry Mwape

For the past 8 years, Henry has served as an ecolgist and educational outreach coordinator for the Zambian Carnivore Programme.  He recieved his BS from the Univresity of Zambia in 2013.  Originally from Mfuwe, Zambia and developed his interest in wildife through the Zambian Carnivore Programme's Conservation Club.

 
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big question

Large carnivores are declining globally due to habitat loss, fragementation, prey depletion, anthropgoenic mortality, and disease. Many countires use national parks or other protected areas to address some of these conservaiton issues.  However large carnivores, their prey, and the external forces that influence their population dynamics often cross protected area boundaries.  Henry is investigating how space use by large carnivores affects carnivore population dyanamics and interactiosn with other parts of the ecosystem.

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approach

Using lion locations and group assocations collected over 9 years from visual detections, radio-telemtry, and GPS-collars, Henry is describing the spatial extent of lion pride territories and coaltion ranges inside and outside South Luangwa National Park.  Distance sampling for ugnulates and wire-snare retrieval records will allow Henry to examine how land status and territory atrributes affect lion density, survival, and recruitment.

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analysis

Integrated population models will allow Henry to include indivdiaul covariates such as territory size, territory overlap with the antioanl park, and prey density on survial in a hierachical model of important demogrpahic rates like survival.

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impact

Large carnivores are known to influence ecosystem structure and fuction and have high conservation value for aesthic and economic reasons.  Studying large carnivores will not only address knowledge gaps in ecology and conservation policy, but also provides excellent education opportunities for the region's and the worl'ds youth.

more on Henry

 
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BBC One The Hunt: Episode 7

Henry and colleagues, Thandiw Mweetwa and Matt Becker, are profiled here by Sir David Attenborough
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More of Henry's work

Check out the Zambian Carnivore Programme's Facebook page for some amazing photos and more on Henry's research and outreach

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