Pilot Program Early Career Synergy Grants Awarded
October 30, 2024
The Global Change Center is committed to supporting early career researchers through our new Early Career Synergy Grants. This year marks the pilot of this initiative, designed to foster innovative research collaborations among GCC faculty while promoting the professional growth of postdoctoral affiliates and advanced IGC IGEP Fellows. The grants prioritize projects that establish new connections between faculty with limited prior collaboration or that explore entirely new research directions among existing collaborators.
We are pleased to announce the following recipients of the inaugural GCC Early Career Synergy Grants!
Social-ecological drivers of arapaima poaching in the Amazon
Priscilla dos Reis Cunha, Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Working with Dr. Leandro Castello and Dr. Elizabeth Nyboer
This project seeks to understand the drivers of poaching to protect arapaima (Araipama spp.) and the livelihoods of those dependent on this fishery. The project will be conducted through spatial participatory mapping to assess the social and ecological factors that influence poaching frequency of arapaima in the Amazon. The intended outcome is to map “poaching hotspots” to inform fishers and managers which locations to address to manage poaching.
Expanding Sierra Leone’s One Health initiatives to include deforestation, urban development, and their threats to human, wildlife, and ecosystem health
Tori Hymel, Planning, Governance, and Globalization
Working with Dr. Gillian Eastwood and Dr. Todd Schenk
This project, which will be conducted in partnership with the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, has two parts. The first will involve interviewing individuals in communities near the Western Area Peninsula National Park near Freetown in Sierra Leone. Participants will be asked open-ended questions about their opinions and experiences regarding health and nature-related events. The second piece is a workshop hosted with representatives from relevant government agencies, NGOs, industries and others involved in One Health initiatives. The focus of the workshop is to gain a more complete picture of collaboration across institutional boundaries for stronger relationships, particularly with incorporating environmental issues into One Health research and projects.
Implications of selections of methodological approach on inferences of ecological niche evolution
Claudia Nuñez-Penichet, Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Working with Dr. Haldre Rogers and Joseph Uyeda
The project explores the effect of selection of method for reconstruction on inferences about ecological niche evolution. This will be done by testing three (3) methodological approaches for reconstructing species’ ancestral niche. The performance of the different methods will be evaluated via qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the reconstruction outputs versus the “true” simulated scenarios. The benefit of this study is identifying the most effective methods for exploring niche evolution in invasive species, which is critical for the prevention and mitigation of species invasions, particularly in the context of climate change.
Effects of co-infection of a zoonotic and enzootic wildlife pathogen: integrating avian host responses and mosquito host preferences
Anna Pérez-Umphrey, Biological Sciences
Working with Dr. Dana Hawley and Dr. Chloé Lahondère
This project seeks to address a research gap for two emerging pathogens of significant wildlife conservation and human health concern- West Nile Virus, a vector-borne, zoonotic flavivirus, and Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a non-zoonotic bacterial pathogen. Using house finches, the study will provide insight on how co-infections alter both host ecology and epidemiology. The goal of this study is to further determine ecological drivers and consequences of co-infection.
