Dipto Sarkar | Kibale Ecology and Conservation Project

Climate Dynamics

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Description and Project Aims

Kibale National Park is a globally important 795 km² forest, but its common description as a “moist evergreen forest” masks critical ecological complexity. The park spans a significant altitudinal range (1100-1600m) and, more importantly, a steep north-to-south aridity gradient. While the northern sector is characterized by a wet, humid climate, the park’s southern region becomes progressively drier, eventually transitioning into the savanna-grassland ecosystem of Queen Elizabeth National Park. This environmental continuum is a key driver of biodiversity and ecosystem function, yet it remains poorly mapped.
Effective, spatially-aware conservation and ecological research depend on an accurate understanding of this environmental heterogeneity. Treating the park as a uniform habitat block can lead to flawed models of species distribution, poor predictions of climate change impacts, and inefficient allocation of conservation resources. The central aim of this long-term project is to create the first high-resolution, data-driven map of Kibale’s diverse climatic zones. Our lab is tackling this by fusing two powerful data sources:
Ground-Based Network: We have deployed a network of in-situ weather stations along the park’s primary gradients to capture fine-scale, real-time data on temperature, rainfall, and humidity.
Remote Sensing: We are augmenting this ground data with satellite-derived products, such as Land Surface Temperature (LST) and vegetation indices, which provide comprehensive spatial coverage across the entire park.
By using the ground station data to calibrate and validate the satellite imagery, we can build a robust model of the park’s microclimates. This foundational dataset will be a powerful tool, enabling our lab and our partners to more accurately model habitat suitability for key species, predict how different zones will respond to climate change, and ultimately guide more effective, site-specific conservation strategies.

Contact Information

Dipto Sarkar

Socio-Ecological Dynamics and the Human Dimensions of Conservation

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Description and Project Aims

The success of any global biodiversity plan is ultimately decided at the local level. While national parks like Kibale are critical for preserving ecosystems, their very existence creates a complex socio-economic landscape for the “frontline” communities living on their borders. The costs of protecting biodiversity often fall disproportionately on these local populations, who frequently face a cascade of challenges:

Livelihood Impacts: Restrictions on accessing traditional forest resources.
Direct Conflict: Significant crop and property damage from wildlife, as well as threats to human safety.
Health & Security: Heightened exposure to zoonotic disease transmission at the human-wildlife interface.
Economic Disparity: Limited development opportunities that can be overshadowed by the conservation-focused economy.

Recognizing that conservation cannot succeed if it ignores these human dimensions, our lab maintains a long-term socio-ecological monitoring program around Kibale National Park. This is not a one-time study but an ongoing commitment to understanding the real-world, lived experience of conservation.

The core aim of this project is to track and contextualize how conservation strategies impact community well-being over time. We employ a multi-faceted approach to build a holistic picture:

Community-Level Monitoring: We conduct regular, structured household surveys to gather longitudinal data on livelihoods, food security, economic well-being, health, and local perceptions of conservation and its managing bodies.
Policy Analysis: We actively track and analyze policy changes at all scales—from local park management rules and national-level government directives (e.g., from the Uganda Wildlife Authority) to the influence of international conservation frameworks.

By connecting these “bottom-up” community realities with “top-down” policy decisions, our research provides critical feedback to both scientists and policymakers. This work helps identify pathways for more equitable conservation, ensuring that the human communities who are the primary stewards of these landscapes are not left bearing the cost of global biodiversity goals.

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Dipto Sarkar

Forest Ecology and Restoration

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Project Aim

We have been studying the dynamics of the tree community in Kibale for over 35 years by monitoring 50 plots ever 3-5 years. This has provided key insights into the functioning of the forest and is now allowing us to restore areas of forest that were degraded by logging or agricultural encroachment before Kibale became a park. We work with the community to remove invasive or hyper-aggressive species and plant in native seedlings grown in nurseries.

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Colin Chapman and Dipto Sarkar

Human-Wildlife Interactions

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Project Description and Aims

Human-wildlife conflict is one of the most pressing and complex challenges at the intersection of conservation biology and sustainable development. As human populations and agricultural lands expand into areas bordering protected habitats, interactions between people and wildlife are intensifying, often with severe consequences. Our research program addresses one of the most critical forms of this challenge: human-elephant conflict (HEC). Across Africa and Asia, crop-raiding by elephants poses a direct threat to the food security, economic stability, and safety of rural communities, which in turn can erode local support for conservation and lead to retaliatory killings of elephants.

The core aim of this long-term research is to move beyond simply documenting conflict to systematically understanding its underlying drivers. We operate on the premise that conflict events are not random; they are predictable behaviors shaped by a complex interplay of elephant ecology, animal learning, resource availability, and the structure of human landscapes. Our lab uses an interdisciplinary approach that integrates advanced geospatial science—including satellite remote sensing, GIS modeling, and spatial statistics—with rich, long-term datasets gathered through on-the-ground behavioral observations and collaboration with local community partners.

This project seeks to answer the fundamental questions of why and where conflict hotspots emerge and persist. We investigate how elephant decision-making is influenced by factors like landscape connectivity, the distribution and nutritional quality of preferred crops, the presence and effectiveness of physical barriers, and seasonal environmental changes. By identifying the specific landscape features and social-ecological dynamics that either attract elephants or fail to deter them, we can pinpoint critical vulnerabilities and opportunities for intervention.

Ultimately, the objective of this program is to provide the actionable, evidence-based science needed for effective, spatially-informed coexistence strategies. Rather than promoting one-size-fits-all solutions, our research helps conservation managers and local communities allocate limited resources to the right places. This can inform the design of smarter, more efficient mitigation tools, from the strategic reinforcement of barrier systems and the implementation of community-based early-warning systems in high-risk corridors, to informing land-use planning that better balances agricultural needs with wildlife movement. Our work strives to find sustainable pathways that protect human livelihoods while securing a future for elephant populations in increasingly human-dominated landscapes.

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Dipto Sarkar

Primate and Mammal Population Dynamics.

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Project Description and Aims

The vast majority of conservation projects do not measure how they improve biodiversity. We want Kibale to be different. Thus, we are monitoring the relative abundance of the common diurnal primates, ungulates, and elephants throughout the park. Some of our monitoring builds on the work of others and starts in 1970 making our data some of the longest in existence for tropical systems. Park wide animal populations are generally increasing – a very positive message for conservation.

Contact Information

Colin Chapman, Dipto Sarkar, Jan Gogarten, Patrick Omeja, Urs Kalbitzer

Dipto Sarkar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dr. Dipto Sarkar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University. As a geographer and GIScientist, his research explores the complex, real-world interactions between environmental conservation and human society. Dr. Sarkar’s work leverages advanced geospatial technologies, including social network analysis and spatial statistics, to model complex ecological systems and their change over time. He uniquely integrates this high-tech analysis with long-term, in-situ data collection, such as detailed community surveys and in-situ environmental monitoring. A defining theme of his program is the human dimension of conservation, as he critically investigates the socio-ecological impacts of conservation policies on the well-being and livelihoods of frontline communities. This approach allows his lab to track the “real-world” outcomes of conservation from both an environmental and a human perspective. Ultimately, Dr. Sarkar’s research aims to produce spatially-informed, evidence-based solutions that promote more equitable and sustainable conservation models.