Speakers of the X. International Parrot Convention: Chaona Phiri

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Country: Zambia

Presentation: Conservation implications of water and it´s availability on the distribution and abundance of Black-cheeked Lovebirds

Chaona Gertrude Phiri is a Zambian accomplished and energetic landscape ecologist and ornithologist with a solid history of achievements in project management, teaching and research in natural resources management. She is currently at the tail-end of her PhD studies in Conservation Ecology supported by Loro Parque at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Under the supervision and guidance of professors Stuart Marsden, Nigel Collar and Dr. Christian Devenish, Chaona’s PhD studies seek to “Devise realistic land-use management interventions for the Black-cheeked Lovebird(BCL) (Agapornis nigrigenis) in Zambia” with through the accomplishment of the following objectives:

• a. Delimit the specie’s range, and estimate abundance and population size as precisely as possible using a distance sampling transect method and to relate these results to historical studies of the species in order to detect trends.
• b. Identify factors limiting the population and distribution of the species such as habitat quality, water pool characteristics and availability, and anthropogenic threats (e.g., land-use change).
• c. Monitor and document spatial and temporal usage by lovebirds, of a series of water pools using citizen science, remote sensing and ecological modelling.
• d. Use historical and current presence records (e.g., from (a)) along with remotely sensed data to build species distribution models (SDMs) for BCL, and explore scenarios of potential changes in habitat quality and water pool availability to model future population changes and requirements.
• e. Use the results from a ‒ b to prescribe appropriate management strategies for the long-term conservation of the species.

The Black-cheeked Lovebird is a Zambian endemic parrot, listed as vulnerable in the IUCN red list of threatened species due to habitat degradation and possibly water scarcity. Chaona hopes her work can make significant contributions to the improvement of the species’ status.

She is an avid birder who loves camping and visiting wild places and is she capable of turning any conservation into a discussion about birds and wild places.

Source: https://www.loroparque-fundacion.org/congreso-papagayos/en/speakers/

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