Mammal Monitoring Techniques in
Tropical Forests Environments.
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Overall Information
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Introduction
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Objectives
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Programme
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Faculty
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Type of course: In-person Field Course to be held in Mexico.
Organised by Asociación Biomas de España y Bio+ México, A.C. Places: The course will be held in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, state of Campeche, Mexico. During the course we will have access to exclusive areas for researchers. In addition, we will visit the Mayan ruins of Calakmul, one of the most important archaeological sites in Mesoamerica. Language: Spanish. Coordinator in Mexico: Elisa Sandoval Serés. Coordinator in Spain: Àlex, Torres Riera. Field teachers: Edwin Hernández, Khiavett Sánchez, Nicolás Arias, from the team of Professor Dr. Rafael Reyna-Hurtado. Duration: 8 days Start date: April 13, 2019. End date: April 20, 2019. Amount: 695€ for Spaniards, 500 US$ for Latinos and 9500 pesos for Mexicans (without trip to meeting point in Chetumal, nor travel insurance). |
Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is located southeast of Campeche state (470 km from Cancun, 120 km from Chetumal and 300 km from Campeche capital approximately), is part of the largest tropical forest in Mexico and offers a natural scenery of vast animal and plant diversity. There are more than 1,600 varieties of plants, 73 varieties of orchids, 16 species of amphibians (where different tree frogs are found), 50 species of reptiles, such as the swamp crocodile and the boa; 286 species of birds like the hocofaisán, the ocellated turkey, the king vulture and the elegant eagle; and 94 species of mammals, among which stand out impressive felines like the jaguar and the puma and other species like the temazate, the peccary, the tapir, the howler monkey and the spider monkey.
It is here where we will carry out this theoretical/practical course with the essential techniques for the monitoring of medium and large mammals. We will enter the jungle to track, follow and get to know the most representative and fascinating species of the Mexican southeast: from the big predators to their prey. With the caution implied by the constant generation of new information, it can be said that Mexico ranks first worldwide in terms of the number of reptile species (717), fourth in amphibians (295), second in mammals (500), eleventh in birds (1150) and possibly fourth in angiosperms (flowering plants), since it is estimated to have 25000 species. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (RBC) represents the largest Mexican tropical forest Reserve, with very particular climatological, edaphological and vegetation characteristics. It is a mixture of high and medium jungles with low jungles, temporarily floodable and with aquatic vegetation. As for its fauna, Calakmul is relevant for its representation of mammals, which include six of the seven species of marsupials registered in the country; two of the three primates; two of the four edentates; and five of the six felines. Although Calakmul does not have endemic vertebrates, it contains a considerable number of species considered rare, threatened or endangered, including species of Yucatan birds such as: the ocellated turkey (Agriocharis ocellata), the yucatec troglodyte (Thryothorus albinucha), the yucatec chara (Cyanocorax yucatanica), the black mimid (Melanoptila glabrirostris) and the hocofaisán (Crax rubra). All these characteristics, together with the very important archaeological sites, make Calakmul one of the most interesting places in all of Latin America. Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is currently the largest protected area of tropical rainforests in Mexico. Its biological value on a regional scale is of great importance because it enables biological continuity with the "neighboring" reserves and protected areas in Guatemala and Belize, with which it still maintains forest continuity; the uninterrupted forest area amounts to more than 3,000,000 hectares. For this reason, it serves as a biological corridor that favors the migration of animal species, as well as the conservation of the tropical forest. On the other hand, it is considered one of the first 15 priority areas for the conservation of terrestrial mammals in Mexico as it is inhabited by different endangered species such as the jaguar (Panthera onca), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), the Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii), the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), the temazate (Mazama americana), the anteater (Tamandua mexicana), the spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and the howler monkey (Alouatta palliata). |
General objectives:
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The course lasts eight days, five of which will be within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and the other three days in a Mayan community that owns the Nuevo Becal ejido.
The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is part of the largest portion of jungles in Mesoamerica, occupying the northernmost and driest zone of the same. In large part it is a semi-decidal forest or dry forest, where many trees lose their leaves in the dry season. In the course there will be a theoretical part that will consist of topics like basic statistics for the analysis of the data obtained by trap cameras and transects, elaboration of graphs of the analyzed data, among others; in the practical part, identification of traces and footprints, basic principles of use of telemetry, use of GPS and other applications for the follow-up of the fauna like Cybertracker. The second part of the course will be held in the ejido of Nuevo Becal, also a protected area but with different degrees of protection, where environmental conditions are more humid and we can see the difference with the driest forests of Calakmul. In addition, to complement these two sections, there will be talks by professionals who have worked with different techniques for monitoring mammals in the CBR, which will be a great example of application of the topics seen in the course. |
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Elisa Sandoval Serés
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Khiavett Sánchez
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Edwin Hernández-Pérez
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Nicolás Arias
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Àlex Torres Riera
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Degree in Biology from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, with a thesis entitled "Additive partition of the alpha, beta and gamma diversity of the avifauna of the Sierra de Quila and Piedras Bola de Jalisco".
Elisa obtained a CUMEX scholarship for a semester exchange at the University of Barcelona. She did her professional internship in the prestigious research centre of Mexico, Ecosur-Campeche, with Dr. Rafael Reyna-Hurtado, having published her field studies on tapir and white-lipped peccary in prestigious scientific journals. Elisa made a scientific stay in the prestigious "Kalahari Meerkat Project" in South Africa thanks to a scholarship from the University of Cambridge. She has a diploma in International Conservation "Recanati-Kaplan Centre Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice" by WILDCRU, at Oxford University. Elisa has also participated in numerous in situ and ex situ conservation projects in her native country, having worked on all types of ecosystems and with all types of animals, from reef fish to birds and mammals in tropical forests. At Bio+ Elisa promotes, coordinates and teaches the course Mammal Monitoring Techniques in Jungle Environments that will be held in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche, Mexico in 2017. Elisa has founded Bio+ México, a civil association registered in Mexico. |
Biologist graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Campeche. With experience in wildlife monitoring, through the use of photo-trapping and telemetry, mainly of ungulates. Her field work is centered in the Calakmul Region. With interests in the study of mammal behavior and movement, he has studied the effect of luminosity on tapir activity patterns. Now, his research focuses on the home environment and movement patterns of the collared peccary, a species little studied and highly hunted in the area, as well as the relationship of the two major predators, the jaguar and the puma, with their prey.
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Biologist graduated from the Autonomous University of Campeche. He has mainly studied population aspects and habitat preferences of ungulates in coastal ecosystems, as well as the impact of habitat fragmentation on primate populations. He has also worked on various faunal inventories, especially with mammals. His interests are focused on the study of ecological niche among sympatric populations of peccaries and feral pigs in southern Mexico. He is currently working as a Research Assistant at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Unidad Campeche.
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Experienced tracker of the Mayan forest of Calakmul. For years he has been dedicated to tracking and tracking animals, the experiences and lessons he has gained have changed his awareness about hunting, for him it is now necessary to conserve certain species, and applies his knowledge and skills to that end. The more he knows about the jungle and what is in it, the more valuable it seems to him.
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Àlex is the coordinator of the postgraduate course in Barcelona. He will be in charge of the online seminars, giving some and all the logistic aspects of the course and the trip to Kenya. In Kenya he is one of the teachers of the course.
Àlex is a Higher Technician in Environmental Health, with a degree in Environmental Sciences and a Master's in Biodiversity with a mention in Biodiversity Conservation and Advanced Biodiversity from the University of Barcelona (UB), where he carried out the thesis "Incidence of the urbanized environment in the natural history of a mesomammal. The case of the red squirrel (Sciururs vulgaris L.)". He has actively participated in several national congresses on vertebrate fauna presenting various posters and making presentations. Passionate about the fauna since he has evidence; after having made several courses, voluntary and practical in this professional field, he has coordinated the courses of Large Mammals in Kenya for 6 years while he finished his studies and did his research work (publication of notes and articles). He is currently a research support technician at the University of Barcelona (Faculty of Biology) while continuing his collaboration with the Wild Fauna Recovery Centre of Torreferrusa and punctually with the Department of Biodiversity of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In Bio + Àlex he is coordinator of programmes, where he manages the Kenyan, Moroccan and Tarragona courses, carrying out teaching and support work in the field, and giving some theoretical classes. Àlex supports and informs students, before, during and after the courses, about all aspects of logistics and implementation. Àlex is the promoter and creator of the Herpetological Sampling Techniques course, carried out in Morocco, and of the Ribera Fauna Management and Monitoring course, which is carried out in the province of Tarragona, and at Bio+ he is at all times developing new projects and improving existing ones. He is one of the coordinators and teachers of the Postgraduate Course in the Study and Conservation of African Large Mammals at the University of Barcelona in collaboration with Bio+. |