Thesis subject

MSc thesis topic: Grassland Bird Fire Regime Associations on the Kibara Plateau, DR Congo

This project investigates avian diversity and distribution patterns on the Kibara Plateau in Upemba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. The student will work with existing bird survey data collected via distance sampling and explore how fire regimes affect the grassland bird community.

The quarter-million-hectare Kibara plateau in north-eastern Upemba National Park is covered in montane grasslands (1800 masl). Its large fauna has been poached to functional extinction, the absence of herbivory has been substituted by an intensive anthropogenic fire regime that burned 94.5% of the plains in 2024. The park management needs to better understand the ecological impact of the fires to back management decisions around the reduction of the fire coverage. Here, we investigate the impact of the fires on the rich grassland bird community to help the park to in the process of management decision making.

Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups

Fire modelling, species-habitat interactions, global change, quantification of anthropogenic drivers on biodiversity

Objectives and Research questions

Explore patterns of bird species diversity and abundance across a set of survey transects, using existing field data.
Examine spatial and temporal variation in species detections, considering potential factors such as effort, habitat, and survey timing.
Estimate species richness and diversity at the transect level and explore methods for assessing detection probability and density.
Analyze bird community composition and structure in relation to satellite-derived fire history, using multivariate techniques.

Requirements

Programming experience with R
Optional: Passion for or knowledge around ornithology

Literature and information

MODIS fire product: Giglio et al. (2018). "The Collection 6 MODIS burned area mapping algorithm and product." Remote Sensing of Environment, 217: 72–85
Distance sampling with co-variates: Marques, Tiago A., Len Thomas, Steven G. Fancy, and Stephen T. Buckland. “Improving Estimates of Bird Density Using Multiple- Covariate Distance Sampling.” The Auk 124, no. 4 (October 1, 2007): 1229–43.

Expected reading list before starting the thesis research

Regional context: Cotterill, FPD. “Taxonomic Status and Conservation Importance of the Avifauna of Katanga (South-East Congo Basin) and Its Environs.” Ostrich 77, no. 1–2 (April 1, 2006): 1–21.
Fire ecology: O’Reilly, Lindsay, Darcy Ogada, Todd M. Palmer, and Felicia Keesing. “Effects of Fire on Bird Diversity and Abundance in an East African Savanna.” African Journal of Ecology 44, no. 2 (2006) 165–70.

Theme(s): Modelling & visualisation; Human – space interaction