Achievement

In a fall 2010 CHANGE class, Trainee Erik Olson and Associates Brittany Bovard and Ryan Marsh modeled the population dynamics of a well-studied lemur species and identified habitat, predation, and other issues that were unexplored for this species and for the exceptionally rare Prolemur simus. They used this model, coupled with insights about local knowledge and subsistence hunting from another CHANGE class, to develop and carry out an ambitious summer 2011 conservation research effort in Madagascar in collaboration with the Aspinall Foundation. The project involved a wide range of ecological analyses, field data collection, and qualitative research and served as their CHANGE capstone. It has resulted in one peer-reviewed publication identifying a new technique for surveying lemur populations (see publications) and will result in several more. The group’s final report to Aspinall will help the organization to more fully engage local communities in its efforts to protect P. simus.