Katharine Abernethy

I received my PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1994 on the introduction of Sika deer to Scotland. I went to Gabon in 1993 as a postdoctoral researcher and became Director of the Station d’Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzés (SEGC) in Lopé National Park, in 2000, a post I held until 2007. I spent several years studying ape ecology before pioneering research into the ecology of mandrills and supervising several PhDs on large mammal ecology and conservation. I then went on to establish many of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s activities in Lopé including the CEDAMM training centre, a community outreach project, an Eco-museum and a mandrill tourism project. I have influenced environmental policy through several high-profile projects, including The National Strategy for Bushmeat Management in Gabon. I am also a successful botanical artist and my work is widely published. I am now a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and an Associate Researcher for the National Centre for Research in Science and Technology in Gabon (CENAREST). My article, 'Extent and ecological consequences of hunting in Central African rainforests in the twenty-first century' has been selected by F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field: