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Earthwatch
The new 2009 Expedition Guide is here!
There are research projects you can join, running in 30 countries worldwide, working on climate change, ocean health, threatened natural resources and cultures. Want to take a look at them all online right now? Just go here:
view link
Prefer to leaf through our new printed Guide? Just go here and request your free Guide today!
view link
There are research projects you can join, running in 30 countries worldwide, working on climate change, ocean health, threatened natural resources and cultures. Want to take a look at them all online right now? Just go here:
view link
Prefer to leaf through our new printed Guide? Just go here and request your free Guide today!
view link
New results from volunteer-assisted research
Dr. Alexine Keuroghlian of Brazil's Wildlife Conservation Society is a past Earthwatch Principal Investigator, studying peccaries in Brazil's Atlantic Forest with the help of Earthwatch volunteers.
She has just had an article published in the prestigious Journal of Zoology. Its title is "Importance of rare habitats and riparian zones in a tropical forest fragment: preferential use by Tayassu pecari, a wideranging frugivore"
Her research concluded that 2 species of peccary had continued to have viable populations, despite forest fragmentation, because the forest that remained still include a large variety of habitats, including the preservation of some rare habitats.
This means that a healthy peccary population "is an indicator of high habitat diversity in forest fragments and will function as an umbrella species when targeted for conservation."
This is an important step in understanding how to conserve areas that have already been fragmented by logging and development, and how to measure the overall viability of an isolated fragment of forest.
This study was done by capturing and radio collaring peccaries, then releasing them and studying their movements through the different types of habitat, both in the wet and dry seasons.
Many of our expeditions catch, collar and release animals, and usually the animals are examined and measured to determine their age and health. These studies are crucial to understanding human-wildlife conflicts, the need for specific habitat conservation, and use of wildlife corridors, among other things.
It's great to know that our volunteers worked on a study that will enable Brazil to better manage and preserve its natural areas.
Kathy, the Earthwatch webmaster
She has just had an article published in the prestigious Journal of Zoology. Its title is "Importance of rare habitats and riparian zones in a tropical forest fragment: preferential use by Tayassu pecari, a wideranging frugivore"
Her research concluded that 2 species of peccary had continued to have viable populations, despite forest fragmentation, because the forest that remained still include a large variety of habitats, including the preservation of some rare habitats.
This means that a healthy peccary population "is an indicator of high habitat diversity in forest fragments and will function as an umbrella species when targeted for conservation."
This is an important step in understanding how to conserve areas that have already been fragmented by logging and development, and how to measure the overall viability of an isolated fragment of forest.
This study was done by capturing and radio collaring peccaries, then releasing them and studying their movements through the different types of habitat, both in the wet and dry seasons.
Many of our expeditions catch, collar and release animals, and usually the animals are examined and measured to determine their age and health. These studies are crucial to understanding human-wildlife conflicts, the need for specific habitat conservation, and use of wildlife corridors, among other things.
It's great to know that our volunteers worked on a study that will enable Brazil to better manage and preserve its natural areas.
Kathy, the Earthwatch webmaster
Cruise the Amazon in a Riverboat for Science!
Sound to good to be true? Well, it's for real.
Earthwatch fields several volunteer teams a year to work with Dr. Richard Bodmer and his colleagues on their research in the Peruvian Amazon. The base for this research is the Ayapua, a riverboat from the rubber boom days, which has been updated with airconditioning and modern plumbing and amenities - this is not roughing it! Here's a photo: view link
This expedition surveys animal populations along the river. The conservation management of this area was changed a few years ago to include the local people, and the scientists are trying to determine whether animal populations have increased since this change.
From the Ayapua, researchers and volunteers take to small motorized canoes to survey the river for dolphins, manatees and giant river otters. They also do land surveys, looking for monkeys, peccaries, tapirs and birds.
And are the volunteers really useful? In his field report, Dr. Bodmer says:
"The volunteers were truly helpful in monitoring the wildlife populations. More data were collected than originally anticipated, and the amount of information collected exceeded our expectations.
"But, it was the assistance that many volunteers provided to the local communities that was truly unexpected. Many volunteers provided health and education materials to the local communities who are involved with community-based conservation."
And the bottom line?
"We now understand much better the animal populations in the Lago Preto Conservation Concession and the Samiria river basin of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve.
"...our understanding of Amazonian wildlife populations made significant advances this year, and will influence the community-based and protected area conservation of the Peruvian Amazon, largely because of your help. It warms my heart to know that there are dedicated people like you willing to take time and effort to help with our projects."
Sound like fun? Check it out on the Earthwatch website: view link
Earthwatch fields several volunteer teams a year to work with Dr. Richard Bodmer and his colleagues on their research in the Peruvian Amazon. The base for this research is the Ayapua, a riverboat from the rubber boom days, which has been updated with airconditioning and modern plumbing and amenities - this is not roughing it! Here's a photo: view link
This expedition surveys animal populations along the river. The conservation management of this area was changed a few years ago to include the local people, and the scientists are trying to determine whether animal populations have increased since this change.
From the Ayapua, researchers and volunteers take to small motorized canoes to survey the river for dolphins, manatees and giant river otters. They also do land surveys, looking for monkeys, peccaries, tapirs and birds.
And are the volunteers really useful? In his field report, Dr. Bodmer says:
"The volunteers were truly helpful in monitoring the wildlife populations. More data were collected than originally anticipated, and the amount of information collected exceeded our expectations.
"But, it was the assistance that many volunteers provided to the local communities that was truly unexpected. Many volunteers provided health and education materials to the local communities who are involved with community-based conservation."
And the bottom line?
"We now understand much better the animal populations in the Lago Preto Conservation Concession and the Samiria river basin of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve.
"...our understanding of Amazonian wildlife populations made significant advances this year, and will influence the community-based and protected area conservation of the Peruvian Amazon, largely because of your help. It warms my heart to know that there are dedicated people like you willing to take time and effort to help with our projects."
Sound like fun? Check it out on the Earthwatch website: view link
