Senior Research Fellow
Dr Jorgelina Marino
PROFILE
My expertise is on animal behaviour and ecology, biogeography, population biology, spatial ecology, and their applications to the conservation of endangered organisms, particularly carnivores specialized to highlands. I’m member of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit since 1998 (where I completed my DPhil in 2003), Science Director for the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP), Tutor of the Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, and supervise PhD and Master students within the University and abroad.
I’m motivated by the application of research to solve conservation problems. Since completion of my DPhil on the spatial ecology of Ethiopian wolves, I remained responsible of the long-term monitoring of Ethiopian wolf populations and using these data to inform relevant conservation work. I also develop and coordinate EWCP’s research portfolio, with a focus on the distribution and dynamics of Ethiopian wolf populations, the consequences of disease epizootics and habitat loss, the status and distribution of the rodent prey species, wolf behavior, and conflicts between wildlife and people in Afroalpine areas. Further research and international collaborations included ecological research and conservation in the High Andes, with the endangered Andean cat as the flagship species.
For my current research, I investigate specialized carnivores and their prey, using them as model systems to forecast wildlife responses to ever-changing land uses and climates in our planet, particularly in mountain environments. The tools I apply include species distribution modelling and conservation prioritization algorithms. Increasingly I’m interested on the study of behavioural adaptations of wild species to increasing levels of disturbance by humans and domestic animals, including how carnivores adjust their foraging strategies and how interspecific competitions might vary with these changes. Looking into the future, I seek to explore the potential for grassland restoration to sustain ecosystem services and biodiversity in mountains.
My work at the interface between research and conservation involves project development and fund raising, coordination of monitoring programmes and long-term databases; building technical capacity of researchers and protected areas; and promoting sustainable uses of natural resource.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Home range, habitat use, and activity patterns of African wolves (Canis lupaster) in the Ethiopian highlands
Time allocation to balance group living trade-offs in Ethiopian wolves
Declining Use of Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus subsp tatora) in Lake Titicaca
Indigenous–wildlife conflict and coexistence in the Altiplano
Home range, habitat use, and activity patterns of African wolves (Canis lupaster) in the Ethiopian highlands
African wolves (Canis lupaster) and Ethiopian wolves (C. simensis) occur often sympatrically across habitats in the Ethiopian Highlands, with recent studies finding evidence for interspecific competition. However, unlike the well-studied Ethiopian wolf, comparatively little is known about the ecology of the African wolf in the Ethiopian Highlands. To address this empirical gap, we collected data on home range size, habitat use, and activity patterns of radio-collared African wolves at the Guassa Menz Community Conservation Area (GCCA) and Borena Saynt Worehimenu National Park (BSNP). We followed the African wolves (5 in GCCA, 6 in BSNP) for 16 months and had 659 ± 83 encounters with each individual. The mean 95% kernel density estimate home range size of African wolves was higher in BSNP (4.5 ± 1.5 km2) than at GCCA (2.2 ± 0.7 km2). In 55% (n = 3934) of the encounters the wolves were found to be solitary, whereas in other encounters we found them in groups of two to seven. At both sites, the African wolves were more often found in areas close to human settlements than in more intact habitat, and they were mainly active at dawn and dusk. These results show flexibility in African wolf socioecology in response to habitat fragmentation and anthropogenic disturbance. We recommend further studies on major causes of spatial and temporal niche partitioning of Ethiopian wolves and African wolves in the Ethiopian Highlands.
Time allocation to balance group living trade-offs in Ethiopian wolves
Living in groups requires individuals to make trade-offs to maintain group cohesion and enhance individual and inclusive fitness. One way animals can do this is by adjusting the way they allocate time to different behaviours. Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) are highly social, cooperative breeders (only the dominant pair breeds and all members help to raise the litter), but solitary foragers. To investigate how Ethiopian wolves allocate their time to balance the costs and benefits of group living, we analysed the time budgets of 47 wolves across six behaviours. We hypothesized that group size and territory density would affect wolves’ time allocation between solitary (foraging) and communal activities (patrolling and socialising) differently in relation to their age, dominance status or sex, and whether the pack was breeding or not. Our results showed that the time spent foraging alone increased at higher territorial densities, as expected from interference competition, particularly among subadults, subordinates and individuals in breeding packs. On the other hand, as pack size increased, adult wolves spent a lower proportion of time patrolling, while the time spent socialising did not change. Living in groups reduces the costs of communal activities, but crowded territories come at the cost of interference competition for solitary foragers, particularly the animals further down the hierarchy ranks, subadults, and individuals investing in breeding. Such trade-offs could impose an upper limit to group size and population growth within a limited space. Furthermore, anthropogenic disturbance could alter the balance of social and solitary activities of Ethiopian wolves.