PhD candidate Diane Erceg says that when she tells people she is writing a thesis on the history of tourism in Antarctica, they often reply with a mixture of relief and surprise.
The objective of my study is to gain a thorough understanding of the behaviour of crop-raiding elephants in the Sagalla community of Taita Taveta, providing insight for the development of long-term, targeted management techniques aimed at reducing crop-raiding in the area.
I’ve been fascinated by the way that people think about the environment and balance it with other needs, and how this translates to social, political and economic choices.
The project will use a range of approaches from empirical molecular analyses, natural experiments of disturbance impact, and modelling / simulations, to better-understand the drivers of global biodiversity structure.