Keeping the Wild Working: Predators, Processes, and the Ethics of Intervention
Institute Seminar by Sam Ferreira
- Date: Jun 16, 2026
- Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Sam Ferreira
- Dr Sam M. Ferreira, PhD is a senior conservation ecologist and internationally recognised authority on large mammal population dynamics, restoration ecology and evidence-based conservation management, with more than three decades of experience integrating theoretical ecology with applied conservation across Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. For the past 18 years and currently he serves as Large Mammal Ecologist in Scientific Services at South African National Parks (SANParks), where his work focuses on the spatial and temporal dynamics of large mammals, including elephants, rhinoceroses and large carnivores, directly informing adaptive management in complex protected area systems. In parallel, he is the Scientific Officer of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group, leading scientific reporting on rhino population trends and management and providing technical input to international policy processes, including CITES. He also holds academic appointments as Adjunct Professor at the Department of Nature Conservation and Marine Science of Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Extraordinary Professor at the Faculty of Law of North-West University, reflecting sustained engagement in postgraduate supervision, academic mentorship and research capacity development. His research has made a sustained and measurable contribution to wildlife conservation and management across southern and eastern Africa, evidenced by the authorship or co-authorship of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications that have attracted over 5 500 citations (h-index > 40). This work has advanced understanding of population dynamics, spatial ecology, and demographic drivers, improved monitoring methodologies widely applied by conservation agencies, and informed adaptive, landscape-scale management approaches in major protected areas. The consistent uptake of this research in operational planning, regional and continental assessments, advisory processes and international conservation policy debates underscores its enduring scientific, management and policy impact.
- Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
- Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
- Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
- Contact: nborrego@ab.mpg.de
Large predators have a talent for stirring strong feelings. We admire them, fear them, argue about them, and then write long papers about how everything is going wrong. This talk takes a different path. It asks a simple question: what do large predators do for ecosystems—and why does that matter for people who depend on biodiversity, whether they like predators or not? Across many systems, the return or loss of large predators sets off ecological cascades that often improve biodiversity and the services nature provides. But these gains are not free. Predators also bring “social cascades,” such as conflict with people, with lions as a familiar example. So, the real story is not just about benefits, but about trade-offs. Using examples from southern Africa, I compare predators in large, wet systems like Kruger, in large, dry systems like the Kgalagadi, and in small, fragmented parks. In Kruger, nature is shaped by big swings in climate, while local human pressures like poisoning and snaring leave sharp scars. Disease risk, however, is usually low, because big populations allow host–disease systems to stay dynamic. In the Kgalagadi, disease and human-caused deaths are less important, but conflict with people sets very different limits. In small parks, the rules change again. Instead of asking only how bad things are—and arguing mainly about values—I suggest a simple shift in thinking. We should not ask what ecosystems should look like, but what processes they need to keep working. A unified “meta-population” view of predators can guide us across all these settings: how to keep intact systems intact, how to repair broken ones, and how to simulate key processes where systems are heavily altered. This also means facing an uncomfortable truth: ethically managing wildlife includes managing death, within a clear duty of care, and in ways that allow species’ own coping strategies to play out. If we do that well, we create room for many tactics in a fast-changing world—one where humans still hold social and economic values, and where large predators can continue to support both nature and human well-being.
The MPI-AB Seminar Series is open to members of MPI and Uni Konstanz. The zoom link is published each week in the MPI-AB newsletter.