Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Patrick Newcombe ’25
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificates: African Studies, History and the
Practice of Diplomacy
BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
PROJECT TITLE
Competition, Coexistence
and Carnivores: Intraguild
Dynamics of Understudied
Mesocarnivores in a
Recovering African
Savanna
ORGANIZATION(S)
Pringle Lab,
Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Gorongosa National Park,
Mozambique
MENTOR(S)
Robert Pringle,
Professor of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology;
Erin Phillips, Ph.D.
candidate, Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology
I investigated the dynamics of carnivore
competition and coexistence in Gorongosa
National Park, Mozambique, a setting of
conservation and development. I worked
with doctoral candidate Erin Phillips, who’s
mentorship granted me incredible experience
in experimental design, diverse methods
and on-the-ground insights. I conducted
a manipulative field experiment to better
understand fear-induced responses to a
perceived threat. I learned and executed a
variety of field methods, including carnivore
capture and collaring, remote camera trapping,
environmental DNA swabbing, soil sampling and
dietary metabarcoding. I also gained exposure
to vulture banding and antelope collaring and
engaged in many discussions with Pringle Lab
members and scientists that enhanced my
understanding of ecological dynamics. I visited
the forest restoration project, worked closely
with the park’s rangers and discussed the park’s
conservation and development strategies with
staff at all levels of the organization, which gave
me insight into challenges, creative solutions
and opportunities that emerged over the park’s
history. I spent time in the buffer zone and
heavily populated parts of Mount Gorongosa,
where public-private partnership leverages
conservation to alleviate poverty and advance
human rights — granting vital lessons in what it
means for one African national park to be a “Park
for Peace.”
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