Robert B. Weladji, PhDpeople_Rob3

Professor / Professeur Titulaire

Graduate Program Director
Department of Biology
Concordia University
7141 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montréal, Québec
Canada H4B 1R6

robert.weladji@concordia.ca

Phone: 514-848-2424 ext. 3408
Fax: 514-848-2881

Teaching

  • Biodiversity and Ecology
  • Population Ecology

Research

My research interest is rather broad and includes population ecology, behavioral and evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and management, and more recently the welfare of captive wildlife. During the last years, I have worked mainly with (1) the influence of environmental conditions (including global climatic change) 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, cooperative behaviors, social interactions, etc.). Together with colleagues from Norway and Finland, I am currently interested in understanding sexual strategies (mating strategies, mate choice, costs of sexual reproduction, etc.), testing mating systems theories, and the influence of the male composition (e.g. age structure, sex ratio) on population ecology of cervids. The major challenge of my research is to integrate all this knowledge so as to promote sustainable conservation and management of the biodiversity (fauna and flora). I am also interested in (4) the welfare of captive wildlife, and (5) management and conservation of biodiversity in the tropics. Indeed I am in the process of establishing a long term research program in Africa (Cameroon), with a kick off project on Human/Wildlife Interactions in the Campo-Ma’an National Park area starting in 2017. To achieve all these, I can count on collaborators in Canada, Norway, Finland, France, Uganda, South Africa and Cameroon, but also on the contribution from the students.