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📊 new preprint! 📊
"Mapping small-scale ephemeral surface water to inform transfrontier conservation planning in southern Africa"
Swift, M.E.*, A. Songhurst, G. McCulloch, P. Beytell, R. Naidoo
[ read more ] [ preprint link ] [ interactive StoryMap ]

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Research goals

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• I explore the relationships between animal movement, climate change, and human activity using remote sensing, GPS telemetry, computer simulation, bioacoustics, and Bayesian statistics.
• ​I apply these computational tools in areas with high human-wildlife conflict, balancing the needs of people, wildlife, and livestock for One Health aims.

Guiding questions

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• How will climate change-driven aridification shift the balance of needs for large mammals? 
• How will increasing human activity (fencing, urbanization, agriculture) affect the conservation and persistence of wild populations and communities? 
• How will these changes influence animal behavior and the incidence of human-wildlife conflict?
  

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research projects

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Elephants and veterinary fences

As part of the Beyond Fences Initiative, this project uses advanced computer modeling, drawing on existing datasets from radio-collared animals, to investigate how elephants and other mammals currently move about southern Africa's KAZA TFCA. 
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Click here to learn more.

Water for elephants

African elephants depend on seasonal pools of water for drinking, cooling off, and accessing good food. These small, rain-fed water resources are critically vulnerable to climate change, but current maps almost entirely omit them. Let's change that.

Click here to learn more.

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​Publications

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If you don't have access to any of these journals, please don't hesitate to email me for a PDF copy.
​ORCID: ​0000-0001-7913-1879

submitted

1. Swift, M.E.*, A. Songhurst, G. McCulloch, P. Beytell, R. Naidoo. "Mapping small-scale ephemeral surface water to inform transfrontier conservation planning in southern Africa." Preprint DOI: 10.64898/2026.04.03.715600 
   [ interactive StoryMap ] [ data ]

2022

1. Schaffer-Smith, D.S., M. Swift, A. Killea, A. Brennan, R. Naidoo, J.J. Swenson. "Tracking a blue wave of ephemeral water across arid southern Africa." Environmental Research Letters 17 114063​. 2022. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac98d9
   [hydroshare database]
2. Collins, C., S. Elmendorf, J.G. Smith, L. Shoemaker, M. Szojka, M. Swift, and K. Suding. "Global change re-structures alpine plant communities though interacting abiotic and biotic effects." Ecology Letters  25(8) 1813-1826. 2022. DOI: 10.1111/ele.14060
3. Journé, V., R. Andrus, ... M. Swift ..., J.S. Clark.  Globally, tree fecundity exceeds productivity gradients. Ecol Lett 25(6). 2022. DOI: 10.1111/ele.14012
4. Qiu, T., R. Andrus, ... M. Swift ..., J.S. Clark.  Limits to reproduction and seed size-number trade-offs that shape forest dominance and future recovery. Nat Comms 13, 2381 (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30037-9
5. ​Sharma, S., R. Andrus, ... M. Swift ..., J.S. Clark.  North American tree migration paced by climate in the West, lagging in the East. PNAS 119(3) e2116691118. 2022. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2116691118

​2021

1. ​Clark, J.S., R. Andrus, ... M. Swift ..., R. Zlotin. Continent-wide tree fecundity driven by indirect climate effects. Nat Comms 12, 1242. 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20836-3
2. Qiu, T., M-C. Aravena, ... M. Swift ..., J.S. Clark.  Is there tree senescence? The fecundity evidence. PNAS 118(34) e2106130118. 2021. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106130118

​2020

1. Clark, J. S., C. L. Scher, and M. Swift. "The emergent interactions that govern biodiversity change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(29) 17074-17083. 2020. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2003852117