Project
Hi! I’m Carolyn, working on population dynamics and management of wolves in the Alps.
I’m especially interested in the relationship between humans and wildlife and how to promote sustainable coexistence on our shared planet – between humans and wildlife and among the human population.
In December 2023, in response to political opposition, Switzerland legalised the proactive lethal regulation of wolf packs, and similar policy changes across Europe have followed. However, the impacts of lethal regulation on the viability of the Alpine wolf population, livestock depredation conflicts, and human acceptance of wolves remain yet unknown.
My PhD, in collaboration with the Swiss Coordination Office for Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management (KORA), focuses on assessing the ecological and social carrying capacity for wolves in Switzerland and the long-term effects of (lethal) management. My research aims to contribute to informed decision-making in the conservation of a large carnivore at our door step.
CV
- 2025 – Present: PhD in Ecology at University of Zurich, Switzerland
- 2022 – 2024: MSc International Double Degree in Environmental Management of Mountain Areas at Free University of Bolzano, Italy, and University of Innsbruck, Austria
- 2017 – 2022: BSc in Liberal Arts and Sciences (Major Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences) at University College Freiburg, Germany, and Erasmus in Biology at Université Grenoble-Alpes, France
- 2016 – 2017: Volunteer Year at WWF Germany
Publications
- Schaltegger, C. Predicting socio-ecological conflict: Spatio-temporal dynamics of human attitudes towards wolves in Switzerland. MSc Thesis, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano & University of Innsbruck, October 2024. ➤