I graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2019 with a dual degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular & Cell Biology. During this time, I lived on a game reserve in South Africa, where I underwent field guide training and gained hands-on experience in tracking and monitoring animal behavior. In 2023, I completed a Master of Environmental Science from Yale University, focusing on the socio-ecological factors shaping human-carnivore conflict in Botswana. This work resulted in livestock depredation risk maps for African lion and wild dog in the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana, while revealing the complimentary nature of blending predictive modeling with community insights to pinpoint conflict hotspots.

My DPhil research is based in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda and delves into the impacts of subsistence wire snare poaching on multispecies interactions. I’m particularly interested in how human predation risk may alter spatial food web dynamics for large carnivores and their prey.

By combining empirical data from wire snare surveys with GPS-collared wildlife tracking, I aim to experimentally predict the nature and strength of predator-prey interactions for African lions, spotted hyenas, and Ugandan kob in areas of varying poaching pressure. My research is supported by the NERC DTP in Environmental Research, and I am advised by Dr. Robert Montgomery, Dr. Amy Dickman, and Dr. Oswald Schmitz.

I can often be found with a camera in my hand as I am incredibly passionate about wildlife photography and the art of storytelling. A primary goal of my work is bridging the gap between published research and the communities in which research is conducted. I often use digital media to translate the ecological, cultural, and economic relationships between wildlife and humans to broader audiences.

You can find my StoryMaps here: Dylan’s StoryMaps