Dr Aidan Keane

Dr Keane has now left ZSL.

Curriculum Vitae:

• May 2010-Sep 2012: Postdoctoral research associate, University College London & Zoological Society of London: “Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Social Sustainability and Tipping Points in East African Drylands” (ESPA).
• May 2009–Apr 2010: Postdoctoral research officer, Bangor University: “Bushmeat hunting in Madagascar: Linking science, policy and local livelihoods” (Darwin Initiative).
• Oct 2006–Mar 2010: ESRC 3+1 PhD, Imperial College London: “Understanding Rule Breaking Behaviour in Conservation”, supervised by Prof. E.J. Milner-Gulland & Dr. Julia Jones.
• 2005–2006: ESRC 3+1 MSc Environmental Technology, Imperial College London.
• 2000–2004: BA (Hons) Natural Sciences: Zoology, University of Cambridge.
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Research Interests:

My interests lie in understanding how human behaviour and decision-making affect the outcomes of conservation interventions in complex social-ecological systems.

Understanding the effects of conservancy establishment in East African drylands
Currently, my research explores the effects of ongoing conservation interventions on the ecological and pastoralist communities in dryland areas of Kenya, northern Tanzania and southern Ethiopia. In recent years, driven by changes in climate, land tenure and economic opportunities, these areas have undergone rapid change accompanied by large declines in wildlife populations. Drawing upon long-term datasets collected in the course of previous studies, I am developing a suite of models to predict how interventions (e.g. leasing private land for ecotourism) affect households' livelihood-choices, and how these decisions interact with ecological processes, in order to examine how policies and incentives can be designed to push the system towards favourable economic and conservation outcomes.

Rule-breaking, enforcement and sensitive behaviour in conservation
Systems of rules and agreements are a ubiquitous feature of conservation interventions, and conservation success is often heavily dependent on the degree to which compliance is achieved. Despite their importance, however, the effectiveness of rules and enforcement remain poorly understood and under-researched topics in conservation. My work in this area aims to understand how enforcement measures affect individual incentives, and the consequences for conservation. I am also interested in the broader problem of how to study sensitive behaviour in conservation, particularly the usefulness of data collected by ranger patrols and the potential of specialised interview methodologies such as the Randomised Response Technique for learning about rule-breaking.
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Publications:

Keane, A., Jones, J.P.G. & Milner-Gulland. E.J. Heterogeneity matters: the effect of community composition on compliance with conservation rules. Accepted for publication in Environmental Conservation.

Keane, A., Hobinjatovo, T., Razafimanahaka, H.J., Jenkins, R.K.B. & Jones, J.P.G.. The potential of occupancy modelling as a tool for monitoring wild primate populations. Accepted for publication in Animal Conservation.

St John, F.A.V., Keane, A., Edwards-Jones, G., Jones, L., Yarnell, R. & Jones, J.P.G. (2012). Identifying indicators of illegal behaviour: carnivore-killing in human managed landscapes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279(1729): 804-12. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1228

Jenkins, R.K.B., Keane, A., Rakotoarivelo, A.A., Rakotomboavonjy, V., Randrianandrianina, F.H., Razafimanahaka, H.J., Ralaiarimalala, S. R. & Jones, J.P.G. (2011) Analysis of patterns of bushmeat consumption reveals extensive exploitation of protected species in eastern Madagascar. PLoS ONE 6(12): e27570. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027570

Travers, H., Clements, T., Keane, A., & Milner-Gulland. E.J. (2011). Levelling the playing field: The effects of institutional controls on common pool resource extraction. Ecological Economics 71: 151-161. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.08.020

Keane, A., Jones, J.P.G. & Milner-Gulland. E.J. (2011). Encounter data in ecology and resource management: Pitfalls and possibilities. Journal of Applied Ecology 48(5): 1164-1173. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02034.x

Keane, A., Ramarolahy, A.A., Milner-Gulland. E.J. & Jones, J.P.G. (2011) Evidence for the effects of education and environmental engagement on knowledge of wildlife laws in Madagascar. Conservation Letters 4: 55-63. DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00144.x

Jones, J.P.G., Collen, B., Baxter, P., Bubb, P., Illian, J.B., Katzner, T., Keane, A., Loh, J., McDonald-Madden, E., Nicholson, E., Periera, H.M., Possingham, H.P., Pullin, A.S., Rodrigues, A., Ruiz-Gutierrez, V., Sommerville, M. & Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2010) The Why, What, and How of Global Biodiversity Indicators Beyond the 2010 Target. Conservation Biology 25(3): 450-457. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01605.x

McConville, A.J., Grachev, Iu.A., Keane, A., Coulson, T., Bekenov, A. & Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009) Reconstructing the observation process to correct for changing detection probability of a critically endangered species. Endangered Species Research 6: 231-237. DOI: 10.3354/esr00166

Keane, A., Jones, J.P.G., Edwards-Jones, G. & Milner-Gulland. E.J. (2008). The sleeping policeman: understanding issues of enforcement and compliance in conservation. Animal Conservation 11: 75-82. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2008.00170.x

Keane, A., Brooke, M. de L. & McGowan, P.J.K. (2005) Correlates of extinction risk and hunting pressure in gamebirds (Galliformes). Biological Conservation 126: 216-233. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2005.05.011