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Project properties |
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| Title | The effect of preventive habitat burning and/or bush encroachment on behaviour and nest success of wild birds in Africa |
| Group | Behavioural Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Sjouke A. Kingma
(in collaboration with other groups, for example PEN) |
| Examiner(s) | Marc Naguib |
| Contact info | sjouke.kingma@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2020/03/10 |
| End date | 2030/03/10 |
| Description | Many African savanna regions undergo shrub encroachment, where open savanna grassland is taken over by dense shrubs. Prescribed fire can help in maintaining and restoring open savanna. While this is a commonly-used management tool, its effect and the effect of bush encroachment itself, on the wildlife living in such areas are poorly studied. In this project, you can change this by determining how different habitat characteristics and prescribed burning affect the behaviour, nest site selection and reproduction of wild birds in Eswatini (Southern Africa). |
| Used skills | Fieldwork, plant determination, bird behaviour observations, statistics |
| Requirements | The fieldwork takes place in the savanna of Eswatini in Southern Africa; an adventurous attitude is an advantage: the fieldsite is beautiful but remote and accommodation is basic. |