John Lyakurwa
- Project name: Conservation of the Turquoise Dwarf Gecko: A decade of Trade or Recovery?
- Project site: Uluguru Mountains
- EDGE species: Turquoise Dwarf Gecko, Lygodactylus williamsi
- Active: 2020 - ongoing
Biography
John works within the department of zoology and wildlife conservation at the University of Dar es Salaam, before which he gained a MSc in Life Sciences from the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science & Technology. He has taken part in various field based projects studying herpetofauna throughout Tanzania.
John would like to use the Fellowship as an opportunity to gain additional knowledge on dealing with both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. He would also like to be able to incorporate indigenous knowledge into conservation issues, as he understands the key role that indigenous people can play in conserving species.
EDGE Project
John’s project aims to increase the Turquoise Dwarf Gecko (TDG) population in Uluguru Mountains.
His objectives are to:
- Reduce number of exported TDG by the end of the project;
- Determine the distribution of TDG in Uluguru Mountains in year one;
- Estimate the abundance of TDG in Uluguru forest by the of the project;
- Characterise threats to TDG habitat in the wild by the end of 2021 as the basis to develop a management plan for TDG habitats in the future.
