Dr Christopher O'Kane

Kadas Research Fellow

After reading Medicine and History of Art at Cambridge, I practised medicine in The Household Cavalry for thirteen years. Coming to the field of Conservation Biology later in life, I gained a M.Sc. from Natal University, South Africa in 2006 for my work on habitat selection and demographics of large mammalian herbivores in Ithala Game Reserve, South Africa. From 2006 to 2010 I researched elephant and other large mammalian browsers/mixed-feeders in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa, investigating how these species influence savanna woodland dynamics over the long-term, and the implications this has for managing elephants – especially in the context of increasing calls for elephants to be culled in parts of South Africa. Based at WildCRU since 2006, I gained my D.Phil. in 2012. Holding the Kadas Research Fellowship, I am now continuing my work on African ungulates, including elephant, and their impact on ecosystem processes.

O'Kane, C.A.J., Duffy, K.J., Page, B.R. & Macdonald, D.W. 2011. Overlap and seasonal shifts in use of woody plant species amongst a guild of savanna browsers. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27:249-258.

O'Kane, C.A.J., Duffy, K.J., Page, B.R. & Macdonald, D.W. 2011. Are the long-term effects of mesobrowsers on woodland dynamics substitutive or additive to those of elephant? Acta Oecologica 37:393-398.

O'Kane, C.A.J., Duffy, K.J., Page, B.R. & Macdonald, D.W. 2012. Heavy impact on seedlings by the impala suggests a central role in woodland dynamics. Journal of Tropical Ecology 28:291-297.

O'Kane, C. A. J., K. J. Duffy, B. R. Page, and D. W. Macdonald. 2013. Effects of resource limitation on habitat usage by the browser guild in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. Journal of Tropical Ecology 29: 39-47. doi:10.1017/S0266467413000035

 

Conservation biology, elephants, herbivore interactions, savanna ecosystems