Jennifer Moore is a third year PhD student in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation under the advisement of Dr. Madan Oli. Jennifer has spent the last two years working in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. Last summer, Jennifer spent her time deploying camera traps both at ground level and for the first time within this area in the tree canopy in order to study the mammalian species of the park. She is interested in which species are present, and how they are distributed with a particular emphasis on nocturnal, arboreal, and elusive mammals. She captured photographs of more than 30 mammal species, including at least 3 species that have not previously been photographed in the park. Next summer, she will expand her study area to include all habitat types and elevation zones within the park, with the hope of capturing more new species.
In addition to her camera project, Jennifer’s dissertation research focuses on patterns of illegal human activity within Nyungwe such as poaching, the home range and habitat selection of the flagship species of the park, the endangered eastern chimpanzee, as well as optimal protocols for both monitoring for mammalian species as well as illegal activity in a montane rain forest ecosystem. Jennifer’s research over the last two years has been funded by the University of Florida Center for African Studies, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, and Tropical Conservation and Development, in addition to Sigma Xi Honor Society, Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, and the American Society of Mammalogists.