Allison Muller

PhD project:  Establishing the distribution, feeding ecology and genetic connectivity of free-roaming cheetah in southern Africa

I am studying free-roaming cheetah movement ecology, distribution, and genetic connectivity within South Africa, to help identify corridors within an agriculturally transformed landscape. I shall achieve this through the use of telemetry-based collar movement data from ongoing free-roaming cheetah to locate sentinel points and determine ranging patterns; complement camera trapping analyses with systematic track-and-sign surveys; collect carnivore scat collection for dietary analyses; and use tissue samples/blood collected from ongoing free-roaming cheetah to determine effective genetic connectivity. The findings of this PhD dissertation aims will provide relative and useful information to landowners via a communication network to help de-escalate human-wildlife conflict, as well as identify areas of both movement and genetic connectivity. My research forms part of the Free Roamer Cheetah Project, a collaboration between Cheetah Outreach, Ashia Cheetah Conservation, Stellenbosch University and Groningen University, which aims to be the first multi-disciplinary, wide-range study on cheetah which will have direct contribution not only to land users but will also assist with the compilation of a management plan for such a vulnerable species.