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SPOTLIGHT: DARLINGTON SAYKAY TUAGBEN

Our first Spotlight on Student Research features Darlington Saykay Tuagben of Liberia. Darlington is based at the Forestry Development Authority, and conducted research in Ghana.

What has brought you to this point in your career?

In primary school, I had an uncle who worked with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) of Liberia who I admired very much, and I dreamed of working within the FDA when I grew up. Later, as a student of natural resources management at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, I visited Liberia and did a three-month internship with the Conservation Department of the FDA. It was during this period that I saw the need for a trained conservationist to assist in the post-war development of Liberia, which experienced 15 years of civil crisis that depleted our natural resources. Since then, I have been committed to study hard and become a professional wildlife conservationist. My ambition is to become a primatologist to help save man's closest relatives from extinction in Liberia where bush meat is a huge crisis and primate meat is a delicacy.

Research profile

My bachelor degree research at the KNUST was conducted on duikers (Artiodactyla; Bovidae), which are antelopes found in the forests and bushlands of Africa. I worked in The Bia Conservation Area (BCA) in the Western Region of Ghana, which consists of two forested protected areas. These forests are thought to hold about 90% of the species in the country, but due to the lack of surveys, there are limited data on duiker diversity, relative abundance and distribution. To collect this information, I walked 50 one-kilometer transects in May 2007 recording the number of water sources, duiker pellet densities, illegal activities, and vegetation data. I found five species of duikers: Red-flanked, Maxwell's, Black, Bay and Yellow-back duikers. Illegal human activities and water sources were the main factors influencing duikers' distribution and relative abundance in the area. This study has provided baseline information on the status of duikers in BCA and the most suitable methods of surveying duiker. Copies of my thesis can be found in the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources' library and the Department of Wildlife and Range Management of KNUST. I provided my findings to the authorities to inform better management strategies for the area and duiker conservation, and students and researchers can now build on this information in their own research or dissertations.

How are you going to relate your current research to future work and your plans as a conservation biologist?

This research was carried out in partial fulfillment for a BSc degree and offered me the potential to become a conservation biologist. After defending this project successfully, I knew that I was prepared for the field of conservation biology. Since then I have wanted to advance my knowledge in the field of conservation biology because my country, Liberia, needs me most. This ambition led me to apply to Roehampton University to study Primate Biology and Conservation. I have received a provisional admission and I am now in search of funding that will allow me to study within this program.

If you could solve one conservation problem with a snap of your fingers, what would it be?

If given the opportunity, I would build stakeholders' capacity to manage their resources by training and educating them on the importance of managing their resources sustainably for perpetual benefits to themselves and their future generations.

Back to SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT RESEARCH

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Ahead to 2009 ANNUAL MEETING -- BEIJING, CHINA