So,it's a collaborative enterprise we’re both vested for contributing for both ends. One of those people was Craig Packer, and his study team contributes data on the population and the spacing of lions that are in the same area. And so, I got to know a number of people that had worked for several years in Serengeti at that time. And because the people that worked on carnivores hadn't had a great deal of experience, they asked if I would help with that group just to coordinate with some of the other groups that had a little bit more computing experience. It was really the first time there had been any attempt to kind of model that system. In 1990, I was invited to a meeting in Serengeti that was meant to bring together people that worked on a wide variety of organisms. thesis, which was in the Sudan on Antelope, called the White-Eared Kob. Well, I've been involved with African wildlife ever since my Ph.D. ![]() What brought you all the way from Ontario to Africa to look at Serengeti wildlife? So, you recently published a study titled “Stabilizing Effects of Group Formation by Serengeti Herbivores on Predator-prey Dynamics”. So,it was a pretty exciting time and I saw a really nice match with trying to understand how populations and communities of organisms fit together using this as a tool. Behavioural ecologists began to first make some predictions about what kinds of behaviours we ought to see under what kinds of ecological circumstances. And this was a principle by which using that kind of decision-making analysis and really computer models to anticipate what organisms might be judging and what the benefits and costs might be. And one of those ideas that was just coming on the scene was the notion of optimal foraging. Lots of exciting new ideas were being born. And at that time, you know, it was kind of a burgeoning time for population ecology. I grew up and went to graduate school at the University of British Columbia. ![]() What made you decide to research this topic? In each case, we're interested in how the choices that individuals make have ramifications in terms of the demography that they exhibit. But by and large, what we're interested in is, is how the behaviour by organisms influences the outcome of the population dynamics that they're involved in, whether that be herbivores that are feeding on plants or the same set of herbivores that are at risk of being fed upon by predators. Well, it's always tough to, you know, encapsulate a research program that covers decades in just one sentence. So, to begin, how would you describe your research or the general work that you do in your lab? We'll be chatting about the recently published study from the Fryxell Lab, which examines the relationships between predators and their prey and how the tendency of prey to live in groups or herds can affect those relationships. I'm your host, Amanda Reside, and with me today is co-host Mackenzie Charter and special guest Dr. Welcome to GryphonCast a podcast where we casually chat about science coming out of the College of Biological Science at the University of Guelph and how that work can affect lives around the world. So, what does make this kind of relationship work? Open your ears and your mind and let's chat about that. ![]() It provides an ebb and flow of population size that keeps both sides in a healthy balance. It may not be a story of friendship, but the relationship between predators and prey is still very important to ecosystems. ![]() No matter what the Lion King might tell you. Not in the case of the lion and the warthog. Speakers: Amanda Reside, Mackenzie Charter and John Fryxell
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