S (Solange) Batista Nunes MSc

I am an enthusiastic young wildlife researcher with experience in African carnivores. I obtained my Master's degree in Évora, Portugal, and my master's research was conducted in Iona National Park, Angola. This research aimed to assess the distribution and density of large carnivores and ungulates in Iona.

African large carnivore conservation is my focus, and my research interests include predator-prey dynamics, ecology of predations and scavenging, carrion ecology, trophic ecology, population dynamics, ecological networks, and human-wildlife conflicts. I aim to work for African carnivore conservation and have an active role on providing science-based arguments to solve outstanding ecological and conservation problems affecting African carnivores.

I started my PhD in October 2022, with the project titled “How facultative scavenging shapes the African large carnivore guild”. With this research, I particularly seek to understand how carrion availability and its spatiotemporal distribution, as well as scavenging by top carnivores may affect the intricate network of interspecific interactions within the carnivore guild.