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Dr. Fiona “Boo” Maisels is a Conservation Scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and an Honorary Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences in the African Forest Ecology Group at the University of Stirling in Scotland. She completed her PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at Edinburgh University and has worked as a conservation scientist since then in the Central African tropical forest region. Boo is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, and she also previously served as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Stirling. In this interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:10)
When she’s not working, Boo spends her time walking around outdoors where she can enjoy the flowers, trees, birds, and everything else that’s alive. There are many great green spaces where she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, but Boo really loves exploring different forests around the world.
The Scientific Side (2:55)
Boo’s research has focused on understanding the natural world and the interactions between plants, animals, people, and landscapes. In her work as a conservation scientist, Boo is also working to find ways to solve the problems they identify in these interactions to better preserve the natural world.
A Dose of Motivation (4:23)
“A day without learning something is a day wasted.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (6:39)
Boo’s interest in science started with a fascination with wildlife. She always looked at things and wondered how everything worked. As an undergraduate, she decided to pursue zoology, and her plan was to run or manage protected areas. Boo thought a master’s degree in resource management was the next step on the path to that kind of position, but she realized after enrolling that this degree focused more on how to manage people. This wasn’t a good fit for Boo, so she went back to academia to focus more on understanding wildlife. Boo completed her PhD studying feral sheep on the island of Cyprus. Afterwards, she accepted a postdoctoral position studying gorilla feeding ecology in Gabon. This project went well, and after receiving a Fellowship from the Royal Society, Boo began to study monkey ecology in Africa. When her fellowship was completed, Boo transitioned over to the scientific side of conservation, working with various organizations on short contracts until she joined WCS in 1999.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:11)
Doing field work in remote areas introduces a lot of unique challenges, and one example is dealing with humidity. Humidity causes problems for a lot of electronic equipment, and if something breaks, it can take a long time for replacement parts or new equipment to arrive. Beyond the day-to-day difficulties, there are also larger challenges with doing research internationally, including political unrest and war. Boo was working at a research station in Africa in what was then known as Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1991 when the country experienced substantial political unrest. Riots broke out across the country. They had to quickly close down the research project they were working on and relocate hundreds of miles away to Rwanda. After a few weeks, it became clear that the situation was not likely to stabilize any time soon, and the whole project had to be moved to Gabon.
A Shining Success! (20:43)
Boo and her colleagues recently published a paper in the journal Nature that examined the effects of good forestry management on the wildlife living in the forests of Central Africa. Specifically, they looked at a practice called selective logging in which only a few individual trees are harvested per hectare. Logging companies can receive a certification if they follow good forestry management practices and social norms like having their employees wear appropriate safety equipment. Then customers can choose to buy products that have this certification to ensure they are buying products that are more sustainably and ethically sourced. Recently, one of Boo’s graduate students led a project examining the impact of this program on wildlife abundance. Their results clearly show that there were far more large animals (such as elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, and buffalo) at certified sites compared to matched non-certified sites. This project demonstrated the strong impact these kinds of programs can have on wildlife, and Boo hopes this work can be replicated in other parts of the world as well.
Another recent success involved creating an action plan for the conservation of red Colobus monkeys, which are becoming more rare due to hunting and deforestation. These monkeys can be thought of as an umbrella species where protecting and conserving the Colobus monkeys will indirectly protect and conserve many other species that share its habitat. The action plans specified specific recommendations for what should be done to conserve the monkeys at particular sites across Africa, and the research team also transformed the ideas from these action plans into a newly published paper that will reach a larger, broader audience.
Book Recommendations (30:05)
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow, any books by Cormac McCarthy
Most Treasured Travel (31:30)
Earlier this year, Boo traveled with two colleagues to Bolivia to teach other scientists how to analyze data for a new method they developed called camera trap distance sampling. This method allows researchers to count animals using camera traps even if the animals don’t have distinct markings/color patterns. About twenty people traveled from across Latin America to attend this educational workshop. It was fantastic to spend time with a large group of talented, interesting people in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The weekend after the workshop, the group went out together to the high Andes with WCS Bolivia staff, and the wildlife they encountered was absolutely remarkable. Boo enjoyed seeing wild vicuña, a wide variety of birds, and other native animals. Seeing the vicuña was particularly meaningful because these animals (which are similar to llamas and alpacas) represent an important conservation success story. The local people rely on the vicuña for their fine wool, and they had been hunting them for years until there were very few left in the wild. WCS worked with the community at a site in Western Bolivia on a plan to catch the animals every few years to shear and release them, and the numbers have increased from about 100 animals to now well over 10,000 animals in that area.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (35:15)
For many conservation scientists, daily life doesn’t involve white lab coats and pristine lab benches. Boo mostly works out in forests or at a computer in her office. Over the years, she has met many fascinating scientists working in the field. Many of her colleagues are musicians, one colleague is a magician, and some are accomplished athletes or artists as well. In WCS, there were a handful of scientists who formed a band and played together for a while.
Advice For Us All (38:48)
Everyone faces challenges and difficult situations. It is likely that whatever problems you are facing now, someone else has dealt with before. They got through it, and you can too. Also, go outside, and look at the animals and plants around you. Don’t spend your whole life within four walls. This will help you become more aware of what’s around you and how things are changing.
Guest Bio
Boo’s earlier scientific work — mostly in the forests of Central Africa — focused on the interactions between animals and plants, and for the last couple of decades, the interactions between animals and humans from a conservation point of view. Key species interests include elephants, primates, ungulates and birds. In her spare time, Boo enjoys poking about in natural habitats, looking at wildlife!