Photos from Bozdağ, Konya

Bozdağ region, within the province of Konya is located in Central Anatolia, which is characteristically covered by vast areas of steppe ecosystem. I took the above photo in 2004 inside the Turkish Mouflon Breeding Station. My fieldwork inside the station comprised trekking to search for wolf signs. Photo below was taken during a demonstration of scat collection to the 2004 Field Ecology class.

2004 Field Ecology class brought luck to me and my supervisor Dr. Can Bilgin that we could shoot (without bullets!) 2 wolves with only one -motion triggered- camera trap; a first forTurkey.

My studies in Bozdağ were between 2003 and 2007, however, after we lost all the wolves inside the Turkish Mouflon Breeding Station in 2005, I concentrated on conflict assessment through interviews with the shepherds. In the below photo, a shepherd I interviewed is showing me the sheep that survived the last wolf attack with minor injuries (photo by my father, R.Bora Tuğ).

~My CV~

PERSONAL INFORMATION

& SKILLS

Date of Birth: May 13, 1980

Nationality: Turkish

Language: Turkish (native), English (fluent)

Computer skills:

Good command of MS Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access and Publisher), MINITAB;

Basic skills in SPSS, Adobe Photoshop and Spatial Data Analysis software (eg. TNT, MapInfo, ArcGIS, IDRISI, CrimeStat).

EDUCATION

1998 – 2002 Middle East Technical University (METU), Dept. of Biology(B.S., GPA: 3.48/4.00).

2002 – 2005 METU, Dept. of Biology (M.Sc., GPA: 3.86/4.00).

2005 – present METU, Dept. of Biology (Ph.D)

Relevant courses:

Ecology, Field Ecology, Advanced Field Techniques, Introduction to GIS, Spatial Data Analysis, Qualitative Research (Dept. of Sociology).

EXPERIENCES

2001 – 2002

Leader of Biological Society of METU (Student organization).

2001,July-August

Intern project assistant at the LIFE project; “PURE”, as an IAESTE trainee.

Konstanz University, Department of Microbial Ecology, Konstanz, Germany.

2002 – 2005

Content builder and content advisor for two e-learning projects of RtB Educational Solutions Ltd. Co. (http://www.rtb.com.tr ):

- Vitamin–Elementary Education Materials; Science chapters,

- Malaysia teaching courseware for primary education (grades 6 & 7).

2002 – present

Project leader and fieldwork of “Wolf Predation in Central Anatolia”, supported by Rufford Small Grants.

2003 June

Translator of the User’s Manual of MLR GPS (SP24) (English>Turkish).

Instructor at the training courses given to the General Directorate of Rural Services on usage of this handheld GPS.

2003 – 2005

Consultant for the GAP Analysis of the Aegean Region in the context of national GAP Analysis Project lead by Biological Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Forestry and Environment.

2005 – present

Teaching assistant at Middle East Tech. Un., Dept. of Biology

Courses: Field Ecology, Ornithology, Biometry, Advanced Field Techniques, General Biology.

2006 February

Interpreter of the Question and Answer session of the talk “Evolution and Us” given by Dr.Andrew Berry at Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

2006, September

Volunteer for Research and Monitoring of Wolves in Croatia (lead by Dr. Josip Kusak)

2007 October

Interpreter of Dr.Alex Finkral during the Workshop on Ecological Training of the Foresters that was organized by Nature Conservancy Center (http://www.dkm.org.tr) in Trabzon.

PUBLICATIONS

Tuğ, S. (2005) Conflicts between humans and wolf: A study in Bozdağ, Konya. M.Sc. Thesis. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Tuğ, S. & Bilgin, C.C. (2006) Conflicts between humans and wolves in Turkey: Damages and attitudes in Bozdağ (Central Anatolia). 1^st European Congress of Conservation Biology, 22-26 August 2006, Eger, Hungary.

Tuğ, S. & Bilgin, C.C. (2006) Konya-Bozdağ’da İnsan-Kurt Çatışması. VI. Ulusal Ekoloji ve Çevre Kongresi, Diyarbakır, Turkey.

Tuğ, S. & Bilgin, C.C. (2007) Livestock guarding dog (LGD) breeds and coexistence with wolves: The case of Anatolia. V European Congress of Mammalogy 21-26 September 2007, Siena, Italy.

ACHIEVEMENTS

2001 IAESTE traineeship;internship in Konstanz Univ., Konstanz, Germany.

2002 The Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey;National Scholarship for M.Sc. students.

2003 Rufford Small Grants;“Wolf Predation in Central Anatolia” project