Tamanna Patel - External Stakeholder Communication

Tamanna Patel is a PhD student registered at Wits University and affiliated with SAEON, Grasslands Node. She is funded through the NRF’s Professional Development Programme. Her research focuses on mammal populations in the Drakensberg, specifically looking at long-term trends and distribution patterns. This has followed on from the internship she undertook with SAEON prior to starting her PhD. During her internship, she conducted a foundation study on the population dynamics of eland in the Drakensberg using a long-term population database maintained by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. She is supervised by Professor Tim O’Connor and Professor Francesca Parrini. She has always been a nature-lover and had a passion for the outdoors. It is for this reason that she chose to pursue a career in Ecology and the Environment. Her MSc research on oribi antelope spurred her interest further in mammal population dynamics and their interactions with ecosystems.