Research interests

The focus of my research is population genetics and conservation of the endangered black-faced impala (Aepyceros melampus petersi), endemic to the semiarid region of north-western Namibia and south-western Angola. The subspecies only numbers some 1500 individuals in the wild (most of these are found in the Etosha National Park, Namibia) as a result of hunting and competition from livestock. The population in Etosha NP is furthermore threatened by genetic swamping as a result of possible hybridisation with the common impala (Aepyceros melampus mealmpus), an exotic species to Namibia, which has been translocated to farms bordering Etosha during the past decades.

With the use of microsatellites, I hope to shed light on a possible hybridisation between the two subspecies within Etosha NP. As this project is in collaboration with MET, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Namibia, the results will aid the MET in future conservation management plans and translocations of the black-faced impala within the country.

I will also be looking at the general population genetics of the impala species as a whole on a larger continental scale using combined microsatellite and mtDNA data.

If you have any comments or suggestions to my research, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks, Eline.

Impala (photo)

Field work (photo)

Articles:

Eline D. Lorenzen. Sorthoved impala - genetik som værktøj i naturbevaring
Naturens Verden nr. 6, 12-21 (2004)

Eline D. Lorenzen and Hans R. Siegismund (2004)
No suggestion of hybridization between the vulnerable Black-faced impala (Aepyceros melampus petersi) and the Common impala (A. m. melampus) in Etosha NP, Namibia
Molecular Ecology, 13: 3007-3019

Supervisor
Ass. Prof. Hans R. Siegismund
Department of Evolutionary Biology
University of Copenhagen
Zoological Institute
15 Universitetsparken
DK-2100 OE
Denmark
Fax: +45 35 32 13 00
E-mail: hsiegismund@zi.ku.dk