Mattia Bessone

Research Interests

I am a wildlife researcher, particularly interested in wildlife ecology, conservation and monitoring methods. Before starting my PhD programme at LJMU, I conducted fieldwork in the Congo basin, first studying great apes’ ecology and behaviour, and then coordinating a biodiversity inventory in Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, stronghold of the bonobo (Pan paniscus).

Bonobos are endangered apes, with wild populations reported being declining. However, data are lacking from 70% of the species’ geographical range.

In my research at LJMU, I aim to fill these gaps by making use of a database including data collected by several partners in Salonga National Park. I will model bonobo abundance and distribution in the Park over two periods of time, evaluating bonobo population trend and the drivers affecting it. In doing so, I will use critical field and analytical methods for future bonobo conservation, such as Camera Trap Distance Sampling and Integrated Population Models.

In a final step, my work aims to replicate the same study, covering 563330 km² of suitable bonobo habitat in DRC, using spatially explicit statistical methods to infer bonobo abundance even where direct information is absent.

Associations