ROBERT WELADJI

Academic training and work experience : Robert obtained a B. Sc. degree in Ecology and Management of Wildlife and Forest from the University of Dschang (Cameroon). He also holds a M. Sc. degree in Management of Natural Resources and a Ph. D. in Ecology earned from the Agricultural University of Norway. He then worked as a postdoctoral research associate in Life History Strategies and Evolutionary Ecology in three institutions : the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis at the University of Oslo, and the Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France. Robert has also worked as a Wildlife Officer for the Department of Wildlife and Protected Areas (Cameroon Government), and as a biologist for the World Wildlife Fund for Nature - Cameroon Programme Office during 1998-1999 with research on large mammals (mainly elephants and black rhinoceros). He joined the NSERC-Produits Forestiers Anticosti Industrial Research Chair in April 2005. Robert is a professor at Concordia University since April 2007.

Research interests : Robert's research interest is rather broad and include natural resource management, grazing ecology, population ecology, behavioral and evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and management, and terrestrial ecosystems ecology. During the last years, he has worked mainly with (1) the influence of environmental conditions on life history and population dynamics of ungulates, mainly large herbivores (e.g. reindeer/caribou, sheep); (2) life history strategies and evolutionary ecology of mammals, mainly reindeer/caribou and sheep, and (3) behavioral ecology (rutting behavior, mating strategies, social interactions, etc.). Together with colleagues from Norway, he is increasingly being interested in the influence of the male composition (e.g. age structure, sex ratio) on population ecology of cervids. The major challenge of his research is to integrate all this knowledge to promote sustainable conservation and management of natural resources (fauna and flora) and to achieve this, he can count on collaborators in Canada, Norway, Finland and France. Robert is also interested in management and conservation of biodiversity in the tropics and plans to establish a long term research program in Africa.

Other links : Curriculum Vitae