Non-Invasive Monitoring of Wild Populations
Advances in genetics now allows for the non-invasive monitoring of the abundance, density, and demography of wild populations. As a member of the Molecular Anthropology Group at the University of Oregon I use genetics to monitor wild populations under the supervision of Dr. Nelson Ting. For my Master's research, I extracted and analyzed DNA from fecal samples collected at Iyema, DRC. We estimated the size of the population of bonobos at Iyema and examined social networks to provide preliminary estimates of the number of communities present. In addition to working on bonobos, we recently collaborated with scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to assess the population size and sociality of African forest elephants in the Gamba Complex, Gabon.
Related Publications: Brand et al. 2016a, Brand et al. 2020
Advances in genetics now allows for the non-invasive monitoring of the abundance, density, and demography of wild populations. As a member of the Molecular Anthropology Group at the University of Oregon I use genetics to monitor wild populations under the supervision of Dr. Nelson Ting. For my Master's research, I extracted and analyzed DNA from fecal samples collected at Iyema, DRC. We estimated the size of the population of bonobos at Iyema and examined social networks to provide preliminary estimates of the number of communities present. In addition to working on bonobos, we recently collaborated with scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to assess the population size and sociality of African forest elephants in the Gamba Complex, Gabon.
Related Publications: Brand et al. 2016a, Brand et al. 2020
Collaborators