Sandra Tranquilli

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Primatology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Phone: +49 341 3550 205
Fax: +49 341 3550 119
E-mail: sandra_tranquilli[>>> Please replace the brackets with an AT sign <<<]eva.mpg.de

Department of Biological Anthropology,
University College London,
14 Taviton Street,
London
WC1H 0BW, U.K.

 

Current Research

PhD project

Protected areas are fundamental for conserving natural resources and reducing biodiversity loss. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how successful they are performing over time and to understand which actions could make conservation plans more effective.

My research aims to provide a historical distribution of African great apes and in particular it focuses on understanding the degree of success of conservation efforts in areas where great apes (i.e. chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas) occur or have been occurring. My study contributes to a better understanding of African great ape actual status and to evaluate and shape conservation strategies which could maximize their protection benefit.

I have been compiling both current and historical records on African great apes distribution over the last 50 years both in protected and non-protected areas. In addition, I have been gathering information on conservation efforts, such as activities on the ground (guards, tourism and research) and support of local and international NGOs, for different protected areas where apes occur or got extinct over the last 20 years.

This work is supported by:

 

A.P.E.S. database

I am currently working on the collection and management of survey data for the A.P.E.S. (Apes Populations Environment Surveys) database at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (http://apes.eva.mpg.de/eng/index.php).

I am managing the A.P.E.S. catalogue and reference list of sites where apes currently occur or have been occurring. This list is based on literature research of published papers, as well as of unpublished reports collected during various field trips in different African countries. The collection of unpublished reports involves the collaboration of different governmental and non-governmental organizations, that supported biodiversity surveys within apes geographical range.

This work is funded by: