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Wildlife Conservation

Welcome to the Team

You will be working with two leaders - Dr Sue Dow and Dr Tessa Smith, and you will working at Bristol Zoo, which is very much involved in Wildlife Conservation issues around the world. Sue Dow is the Research Coordinator at Bristol Zoo and Tessa Smith is a lecturer in Animal Behaviour, Conservation and Welfare at Queens University Belfast. Both Sue and Tessa have extensive experience conducting conservation based research across the globe.

What will you learn during your time at Bristol?

Students observe Livingstone's Fruit Bats

We hope that by the time you leave Bristol you will

Deepen your understanding of what is meant by the 'scientific method'.
Understand the components of a good rigorous experimental design.
Know how to implement the main behaviour recording methods and understand the advantages and disadvantages of these.
Know the value of basic statistics for behaviour recording.
Understand the major objectives of conservation.
Be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of various strategies used to conserve animals.

What will you be doing at Bristol?

In order to achieve the above objectives you will be involved in two main activities:

Research project

Working in small groups you will design, conduct and analyze the results from one research project. We will allocate a research project for you. The project will be of conservation importance and your results will make a valuable contribution to species preservation. At the end of the week you will present the results of your project to the whole workshop.

Debate

We will also hold a debate on the topic of: "The role of zoos in conservation"
The group will be divided into two. One half of the group will argue that zoos make a valuable contribution to conservation. The second group will argue that zoos are not the best conservation tool. You will be asked to research your arguments as a team before the debate. Literature will be available on the topic, and you may also wish to speak to zoo staff.

Preparation

We shall provide literature for you to read in Bristol. You might find the Bristol Zoo Gardens website of interest.

References

Here are some of the references you will be using:

Altmann, J. 1974. Observational study of behaviour: sampling methods. Behaviour, 49, 227-267.
Kleiman, D.G., Allen, M.E., Thompson, K.V., Lumpkin, S. 1996. Wild Mammals in Captivity. Principles and Techniques. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
Krebs, J.R., Davies, N.B. 1993. An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. Blackwell Science.
Martin, P., Bateson, P. (1999) Measuring behaviour. An introductory guide. Cambridge University Press.
Olney, P.J.S., Mace, G.M., Feistner, A.T.C. 1994. Creative Conservation. Interactive management of wild and captive animals. Chapman and Hall.
Shepherdson, D.J., Mellen,, J.D., Hutchins, M. 1998. Second Nature Environmental Enrichment for captive Animals. Smithsonian Press, USA.
Sutherland, W. 1998. The importance of behavioural studies in conservation biology. Animal Behaviour 56, 801-809.