Mission Manu: looking for amphibians and reptiles
Mission Manu is a completely self generated project by 8 students from the University of Exeter and Falmouth University (UK). The project will take place in the tropical forest of Manu National Park in Peru.
Our aim is to test different herpetological survey methods in the primary forest in order to understand which are the most efficient in a limited time frame.
(Photo credits Pearl Vas.)
After this first brief statement you might already have some questions, like:
what are herptiles? what is a survey method? and why are we doing all this?
Let me explain.
Herptiles is a scientific term referring to amphibians (frogs, salamanders, cecilians...) and reptiles (snakes, lizards, geckos...).
Survey methods are scientific techniques to identify species that exist in an area at the time of the survey.
In Mission Manu survey methods will be used to identify species of amphibian and reptiles within the primary tropical forest of the cultural zone of Manu National Park in Peru.
The reason why we do it is simple.
Manu National Park is the biggest biodiversity hotspots for herptiles, counting 287 species of amphibians and reptiles. Here new species of amphibians and reptiles are discovered almost every month. These species are also some of the most threatened on a global scale. Deforestation, pollution and climate change can quickly drive them to extinction.
For this reason data collection in this area is highly important in order to design the most efficient conservation programs for these species.
The importance of this project relies in the fact that when working in primary tropical forest fieldwork, surveys must be quick, but there is a big lack in the data for limited time frame herptile survey methods in primary tropical forests.
We will be based at Manu Learning Center which works closely to local communities to provide more sustainable futures and reduce deforestation rates. We will spend 8 weeks from mid July to mid September 2016 in the tropical forest carrying out different survey methods. We will test these methods in order to understand which is the most efficient in a limited time frame.
We will be surveying the primary forest, where perturbation rates are minimal. A similar project was carried out during summer 2015 in the cleared area of the forest (high rate of perturbation) but the test of the efficiency of herptile survey methods in a primary forest has never been done before.
(Photo credits: Comstck/comstock/Getty images)
Our findings will be significant for the study of further conservation strategies at Manu National Park involving local research groups and local communities.
The outcome of this project will be beneficial for local research at MLC but also for the whole scientific community researching herptiles in any other tropical forest. Knowledge about the effectiveness of survey methods will help future studies to be more efficient at collecting data.
The Documentary
It is our intention to produce a documentary/short film of the project.
the documentary will include information and images of the progress and findings of the project, interviews of the researchers at Manu Learning Center and the beauty of the tropical forest.
This video will also have the purpose of raising awareness about the status of the tropical forest of Manu National Park and the species occupying this region.
(Photo credits Matt Cage.)
What the contributions will be use for
The money raised will be used strictly for the purposes of the project. We will use the funding to buy necessary survey equipment like torches, head torches, camera traps, pitfall traps and fieldwork gear.
It will also be used to contribute to the accommodation expenses at the Manu Learning Center for the participants at the project and their training at the MLC.
If the amount of money raised is higher than our actual aim, it will be used to contribute to in-country and international travel expenses.
Part of the money will be also used to produce the rewards (DVDs, T-shirts, Posters, hoodies...)
About the rewards
Every participants to the campaign will receive a reward. Our rewards will be mostly related to our project.
We will produce posters and pictures of the amazing ropical animals to thank you for your help. This material is also a means to sensitize the public and raise awareness for this animal and the forest.
The rewards will involve also t-shirts and hoodies of the project, acknowledgments in the credits of our documentary and an exclusive DVD copy of the documentary produced.
Shipping costs will be included for the United Kingdom. It won't be included for the rest of the world.
Calendar
We will head to Cusco (Peru) on the 23rd of July from London. We will spend 8 weeks in the tropical forest at Manu Learning Center carrying out surveys. On the first week we will be provided camping and forest survey training by MLC staff. The remaining weeks will be spent carrying out the surveys in the forest.
We will then take our flight back to London on the 12th of September.
We plan on delivering the rewards as soon as we get back from our expedition. If we get the funding on a reasonable date before departing (around 2 months before the departure) we will deliver the rewards before the 23rd of July.
0 comments
If you are already a sponsor, please Log in to comment.