Camera Traps and Mosquitos

Miercoles, 13 de Diciembre, 2017

Las Cruces Biological Station
10:48

You know you got a long day ahead of you when the morning starts with applying copious amounts of bug spray to the few exposed spots of skin. Its the first day in the field, and I'll be following two projects that will be deploying camera traps in order to conduct their research. Given my style of shooting, I had a good feeling I'd be crawling my way through rainforest to try to get photos of the students beginning their research -- hence the copious amounts of bug spray....

Pedro shows students how to navigate the settings in the camera trap.

Trent Strapon of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe and Julia Buck of the St. Croix Chippewa band of Wisconsin are researching animal diversity within different the three forest types around the biological research station. Under the mentorship of Pedro M Chavarria -- faculty at New Mexico State Univeristy -- the group will place camera traps in transition areas of primary, secondary, and plantation recovering forest zones.

Julia radios coordinates while plugging the location of one of the camera traps into her GPS. 

Julia holds a camera trap as Trent finalizes settings.  

Pedro enters the GPS coordinates of a river-side camera trap. The research group set up 12 camera traps throughout the 400 acres of property the Las Cruces Station has available for research. 

From front to back: Ngöbe President Pedro Nola Flores,
Secretary for AA-MCRO Izabel Morales, Norys Flores,
and Celestine Mariano Gallardo.

Throughout the week, four Ngöbe representatives will be following various research groups to observe their methods. The Ngöbe are Panama's largest aboriginal group -- making up 10% of the total Panama population -- also spreading into nearby Central American countries. Although they have a large territory separate from the Panamanian government, the indigenous group is struggling with natural resource consumption. In order to gain further understanding on how to monitor their own natural resources while conserving more land, the Ngöbe are learning to combine traditional ecological knowledge (TEC) with modern science. Their ultimate goal is to implement their own Ngöbe-led studies to help them sustainably monitor and consume their natural resources. Inspired by the Las Cruces Station, the vision is to have their own research station on Ngöbe territory to train young students in this collaboration of TEC with western science. But, the dream doesn't stop there. President of the Ngöbe, Pedro Flores, wishes for every indigenous group in Central and South America to have their own research station -- independently conducting their own research to preserve their unique pieces of land.

Julia demonstrates to Norys (left) and Celestino (right) how to program the camera trap.

Isabel examines a possible game trail. With an abundant amount of
hunting experience, the Ngöbe were able to provide excellent
suggestions on places to place camera traps.

Julia and Trent set their riverside camera trap while Isabel watches and Norys records the process on her phone. With a slight language barrier, Norys and Isabel take lots of photographs and videos to help visualize the research process.

After observing the students, Norys ties off
camera trap as Celestino holds it in place.

President Pedro Flores

President Flores hikes behind Trent, Julia, and Pedro to the next camera trap location. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of the Las Cruces Biological Station and create a research facility in Ngöbe territory to further the study of Ngöbe natural resources.

Another research project being done using camera traps is observing seed dispersal methods from the invasive Shampoo Ginver Zingiber zerumbet. Students Morning star Gopher of the Blackfeet Nation and Kimberlee Blevins -- an enrolled member of the Maadan Hidatsa Arikara Nation -- set 8 camera traps in high concentrated ginger growth areas. Under the mentorship of Heritage University's Jessica Black, the group aims to discover what animal species is responsible for the continual dispersal of this invasive South East Asian flower making its way into primary forest.

Morning star helps Kimberlee set up a camera trap.

 Jessica helps Celestino set up a Kestrel weather monitoring device. One of the goals to help the Ngöbe achieve their mission for indigenous science is to have them physically partake in the research. 

Celenstino ties off plants to prevent them from blocking the camera trap.

Celestino catches his breath after helping set up multiple camera traps to monitor the invasive Shampoo Ginger's seed dispersal. As Regional Caciqe (chief) of the Nidrini region, Celestino continuously looks for strategies to monitor the Ngöbe's use of natural resources. He hopes to bring modern scientific methods to young Ngöbe students. 

After a long day, a much needed Jungle Selfie and a boot clean was needed. Followed of course by a cold shower.