UMass Boston

As a conservation scientist, Beth Kaplin is interested in the relationship between biodiversity, humans and the maintenance of ecosystem functioning. Humans rely on ecosystems for life support. One of the greatest challenges facing humans today is the loss of biodiversity, and with it the support system humans rely on. 

Kaplin's interests revolve around how species, as elements of biodiversity, support ecological processes, and how these processes interact with human activities on the landscape. Much of her work and that of her students is focused in the Albertine Rift in east and central Africa, a region of isolated tropical montane forest islands possessing extremely high biodiversity, a rich evolutionary history, very high human population densities, and a history of colonialism which has influenced the regions ability to effectively manage its landscapes and biodiversity. Her main study site is the Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda, where she has worked since 1990.