Having graduated with a degree in Biology and having spent time in several different laboratories I went looking for opportunities to gain more field experience. I found that the Tropical Biology Association run courses every summer in four different African countries to give graduates in biological sciences training in tropical biology, field work, ecology and conservation. I attended the TBA field course in Kenya in the summer of 2007. During this one month course I worked alongside 23 other course participants from 18 different European and African countries and so apart from gaining training in tropical ecology and field studies I learned a vast amount about different cultures and made friends in many different countries.
During the four week course we spent 10 days camping near the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Central Kenya where we were given a series of research talks and field exercises. This was followed by a one day conference in Nairobi run by the TBA and hosted my the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). We then moved to Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley where we stayed at the Elsamere field studies centre and worked in Hells Gate National Park (HGNP). During this time we broke into groups of two or three to conduct our own field projects in HGNP and the Lake Naivasha area.
I worked with Christina Ieronymidou (Cyprus) and Evelyn Fosuah (Ghana) on a project looking at the ant acacia interaction in HGNP. We looked at the differences between the ant behaviour and the host tree characteristics of Acacia drepanolobium hosting two different species of ant. We designed the study, carried out the field work, conducted a statistical analysis of our data and produced a written report and presentation.
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