Imagine a world without lions!
Lions are of economic benefit to lion-range nations where tourism is a large revenue generator. Ecologically, lions are important for ecosystem function by keeping numbers of herbivores in check! Sadly, we are losing more lions fast than they are born. At the current rate of decline, the future of lions in Africa is uncertain. Causes of population decline are well understood but difficult to address. The greatest threat to lion populations is conflict with local people and my work in Zimbabwe with WildCRU is to try and design cultural appropriate, effective and non-lethal conflict interventions to mitigate clashes between lions and humans. My research work is on understanding the effectiveness of the Long Shields lion conflict intervention and spans through several disciplines namely economics, psychology and biology.
I also specialise in mind models, and how people make decisions in times of risk, as a way of understanding why conflict between humans and lions is still a problem despite interventions in place.
