Academic interests
I am a PhD student at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) since August 2014. My research project is on behavioral ecology and conservation status of the endangered mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) in Arsi and Ahmar Mountains, Ethiopia. Mountain nyala is an endemic flagship species in the Ethiopian Highlands and listed as Endangered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Endangered Species. Currently, the species is highly threatened by agricultural expansion, livestock grazing, and uncontrolled annual fire. The species is the most commonly hunted animal and currently inhabits Afro-alpine and dense montane habitats of Bale, Arsi and Ahmar Mountains of Ethiopia.
Though the basic behavioral ecology of the species is relatively documented in the Bale Mountains with few studies, the species ecology is known from short-term observations and trophy hunters in the present study area. Thus, this study will determine the population status and produce habitat suitability map of the species in the Arsi and Ahmar Mountains that will assist the conservation of the species. The proposed study will also help to examine the foraging ecology, activity pattern, home-range dynamics, sustainability of the ongoing trophy hunting and the impact of livestock grazing on the species survival in the Arsi Mountains. This project will also produce a baseline data on land-use/land-cover change of the study area which is important to design effective conservation management strategies. In addition to this, I have been working on the ecology and conservation biology of the endemic Menelik's Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus meneliki) in the southern highlands of Ethiopia.