Prof. Richard Fynn - Research Portal - Converis Standard Config

Prof. Richard Fynn

Email: rfynn@ub.ac.bw

Mobile: 74949202

Phone: 6817218

Address:

Work Experience

Professor, Okavango Research Institute (Deputy Vice Chancellor - Academic Affairs)

Research Focus Area

"Rangeland ecology, especially research on development of optimal cattle management strategies on fenced ranches to develop excellent rangeland condition and cattle production. I incorporate herbivore foraging ecology and grazing ecosystem ecology principles into understanding how to manage cattle in an optimal manner. This involves understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of grazing ecosystem ecology variables that drive the productivity and sustainability of perennial grasses and also how large herbivores respond to grassland structural heterogeneity in different seasons and during drought to optimize their intake of energy and nutrients and to avoid loss of body condition during dry periods. Thus, managing for grassland structural heterogeneity appears to be a key strategy for facilitating resilience under climate change. Grassland structural heterogeneity also influences levels of biodiversity in rangelands. Thus, research on how managing for grassland structural heterogeneity influences cattle performance, adaptability and biodiversity is a key interest of mine. Finally, I want to be able to link how rangeland management practices influence carbon storage. Other areas of research in rangeland ecology include herbivore impact on vegetation composition, diversity and structure as influenced by distance to permanent water and implications for biodiversity

Herbivore ecology, I am interested especially in how large herbivores adapt to environmental variability by accessing functional habitat heterogeneity and its associated functional adaptive resources

Conservation Science, especially how to conserve wildlife under a strategy that involves local communities such that they are optimally benefited by conservation and even enhance the effectiveness of wildlife conservation relative to a state-led conservation approach

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Research Areas