Environmental Internship Program - 2022 Booklet

BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
Max Gotts ’24
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificate: Applied and Computational
Mathematics
PROJECT TITLE
River Crossings and
Wildlife Connectivity in the
Laikipia Plateau
ORGANIZATION(S)
Mpala Research Centre
LOCATION(S)
Mpala Research Centre,
Nanyuki, Kenya
MENTOR(S)
Kimani Ndung’u,
Researcher and Field
Instructor, Mpala
Research Centre;
Dino Martins, Chief
Executive Officer,
Turkana Basin Institute;
Daniel Rubenstein,
Class of 1877 Professor
of Zoology, Professor of
Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology, Princeton
University
I investigated the role of rivers in impeding
megafauna traffic along wildlife corridors
to understand the potential impacts of the
proposed Crocodile Jaws Dam in Laikipia
County, Kenya on wildlife migrations and
ambulation. Wildlife corridors allow animals
to move between protected land based on
seasonal patterns, weather variation, and prey
abundance. The Crocodile Jaws Dam will back
up to the Ewaso Ngiro River to create a large lake;
since animals cannot comfortably cross lakes,
this construction may pose major problems for
animals that presently cross the river. We used a
mixture of fieldwork and modeling to investigate
this problem. We collected field data on wildlife
usage of key river crossings using animal tracks,
and determined whether individuals crossed or
not. We also collected data on environmental
variables such as river speed and depth, physical
geography of the surrounding area, grass cover,
and substrate type. Then, we used these variables
to create a model to determine whether or not
Crocodile Jaws Dam will limit animals from
moving across Laikipia’s landscape. Performing
this research provided me the opportunity to
contribute to a scientific project, to enjoy Kenya’s
incredible savanna ecosystems, and to work
with knowledgable colleagues to protect key
megafauna in a changing world.
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