Dr Jorgelina Marino

Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

DPhil Thesis:
Spatial ecology of the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis)

Background:
I graduated in 1996 from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Bariloche, in my natal Argentina. My research project was on the regeneration of a southern beech species (Nothofagus antarctica) in Patagonia's temperate forests. In 1997 I moved to Africa, where I participated in large mammal censuses in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal. More recently I was the resident Ecologist of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, based in the Bale Mountains of southern Ethiopia. In this role I conducted field surveys of all extant populations of the rare Ethiopian wolf. Since 2000 I am a member of the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Currently working for the People & Wildlife Initiative, a partnership between WildCRU and the Born Free Foundation, managing a website on human-wildlife conflict issues. I am also participating of ecological research applying GIS tools with the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme and the Darwin Initiative project ‘Conservation of Puna’s Andean cats across national borders’ in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Research and interests:
For my DPhil dissertation I investigated aspects of the biology of the Ethiopian wolf across spatial and temporal scales, within a hierarchy of patchiness and heterogeneity in its environment. The specialized nature of Ethiopian wolves made a more rigorous understanding of their ecology possible: wolves are pre-eminent hunters of Afroalpine rodents and the biological system under study is simple and clearly defined (i.e. a specialized top predator of the Afroalpine ecosystem). In such a case, we can learn a lot about the animal’s behaviour along a single resource axis, namely the rodent prey. I focused on the food resource axis of the species niche and studied constraints as imposed by its relic distribution, fragmentation and heterogeneity, expressing patterns in terms of wolf behaviour and life-history traits.

My thesis includes: an update of the distribution and status of all extant populations using extensive field survey data; a study of the degree of dietary specialization across the species distribution; a study of the role of Afroalpine biogeography on the level and structure of the species’ genetic diversity; analyses of the dynamics of local populations from long-term monitoring data, including agents of decline- particularly rabies- and mechanisms of intrinsic regulation; and the role of prey distribution plays in determining the size of social groups and territories.

More recently I was granted a scholarship for further training on GIS approaches and techniques. Using these techniques, my current ecological work entails the application of spatial ecology concepts to the study of highly specialized carnivores of conservation concern, namely the Ethiopian wolf and the Andean cat. Such specialized animals, restricted to high altitude ‘islands’ of suitable habitat, constitute model species for the study of the effects of habitat degradation and fragmentation on the long-term persistence of populations and metapopulations.

Thesis:
Marino, J. 2004. Spatial ecology of the Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis. PhD, University of Oxford. 217 pp.
(Download PDF - 2.5MB)

Publications

Randall, D., Marino, J., Haydon, D., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Knobel, D., Tallents, L., Macdonald, D.W. and Laurenson, K. (in press) Impact and management of rabies in Ethiopian wolves. Journal of Biological Conservation

Randall, D.A., Marino, J., Haydon, D.T., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Knobel, D.L., Tallents, L.A., Macdonald, D.W., Laurenson, M.K. In Press. An integrated disease management strategy for the control of rabies in Ethiopian wolves. Journal of Biological Conservation

Marino, J., Sillero-Zubiri, C. and Macdonald, D.W. 2006. Trends, dynamics and resilience of an Ethiopian wolf population. Animal Conservation 9:49-58.

Gottelli, D., Marino, J., Sillero-Zubiri, C. and Funk, S.M. 2003. The effect of the last glacial age on speciation and population genetic structure of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). Molecular Ecology 13:2275-2286

Marino, J. 2003. Threatened Ethiopian wolves persist in small isolated Afroalpine enclaves. Oryx 37(1):62-71. (PDF)

Marino, J., and Sillero-Zubiri, C. 2002. Factors affecting Ethiopian wolf populations and their relevance to the conservation of this critically endangered carnivore, University of Cambridge, UK.

Barthélémy, D., Puntieri, J., Brion, C., Raffaele, E., Marino, J. and Martínez, P. 1999. Morfología de las unidades estructurales y modo de desarrollo básico de especies Patagónicas de Nothofagus (Fagaceae). Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica 34(1/2): 29-38

Raffaele, E., Puntieri, J., Martinez, P., Marino, J., Brion, C. and Barthélémy, D. 1998. Comparative morphology of annual shoots in seedlings of five Nothofagus species from Argentinean Patagonia. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, série III Sciences de la vie 321: 305-31

Sillero-Zubiri, C. and Marino, J. 1997. The status of small carnivore species in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal. Small Carnivore Conservation 17:15-19

Sillero-Zubiri, C., Di Silvestre, I., Marino, J., Massaly, S., and Novelli, O. 1997a. La distribution et l'abondance de quelques espèces clé de mammifères dans le Niokolo-Badiar. Rapport No 12, Projet Niokolo Badiar, Communaute Europeene, Senegal. Report nr Rapport No 12. 25 p.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., Di Silvestre, I., Marino, J., Massaly, S., and Novelli, O. 1997b. La distribution et l'état des Carnivores dans le Niokolo-Badiar. Rapport No 17, Projet Niokolo Badiar, Communaute Europeene, Senegal. Report nr Rapport No 17. 27 p.

Book chapters

Sillero-Zubiri, C. and Marino, J. Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) 2004. In: Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio, Hoffmann, Mike and Macdonald, David M. (editors), Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs: status survey and conservation action plan, second edition. Pages: 167-174. IUCN The World Conservation Union. Gland, Switzerland

Sillero-Zubiri, C., Marino, J., Gottelli, D. and Macdonald, D.W 2004. Afroalpine ecology, solitary foraging and intense sociality amongst Ethiopian wolves. In Macdonald, David. M. and Sillero-Zubiri Claudio (editors), Biology and Conservation of Canids. Pages: 311-323 (total 450). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

Useful links:

Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme
People and Wildlife Initiative