My first participatory mapping chapter (and 3rd out of 4 dissertation chapters) was recently published in Frontiers in Conservation Science!

Essentially, we found that observed & perceived human-carnivore conflict are equally important for understanding the big picture, but they may be driven by different social & ecological processes. These different processes can contribute to and explain a spatial mismatch in perceived and verified conflict. Thus, integrating the spatially explicit experiences and perspectives of local communities with more traditional ecological methods is critical to identifying lasting and socially just forms of conflict mitigation.

I’m sending many thanks to the communities who participated in this work, and for whom the work was conducted. And of course, so much gratitude to my co-authors: Justin Brashares, Alice Bett, & Maggi Kelly.

…Fun fact, Frontiers has some amazing article-interaction metrics they capture. In just 3 days, our paper has attracted hundreds of views from all around the world!