Forest projects for research assistants

IN101 Node Camp Biodiversity Monitoring Team (Weeks 2 - 8 - need to have completed IN001) 

If you join this option you will be based in one of the forest node camps working with a range of scientists. One team is gathering annual monitoring data on the population levels and distribution of two key endemic mammals, the Buton macaque and Anoa (an endemic dwarf buffalo species on the edge of extinction). This team will be completing very long treks into the heart of the Park, with overnight flying camps and may be away from the main camp for 2 - 3 days at a time. Volunteers on this aspect of this study need to be prepared for this extreme type of trekking that may include numerous river crossings and even abseiling. The remaining teams are based out of the main node camp. One team is monitoring bird communities from point counts and butterfly communities from transect surveys. Another team is assessing human levels of extraction in different parts of the forest including rattan, timber and distribution of bees nests exploited for the honey. There is also a team working on the rivers on amphibian demography and a team working on population counts of tarsiers. Most volunteers on this option will spend part of their time on the extreme trek surveys and part of their time on the remaining survey projects based out of the node camp. At the end of each week the node teams will return to Labundo.

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IL102 Labundo Biodiversity Monitoring Team (Weeks 2 - 8 - need to have completed IN001) 

If you join this team you will be based either in the village of Labundo or the field camp at Lapago. There are a number of scientists at these camps who are completing annual monitoring of a range of taxa including the same groups being studied at the node camps. In addition, there are groups working on population densities of Malay Civets, community structure of small mammals and bats and on Buton Macaque behaviour with particular emphasis on the impacts of crop raiding by this species. These surveys have already produced several species new to science, as well as establishing unique data sets on the dynamics of tropical forest vertebrates. Volunteers joining the Research Assistant pool will be helping with a range of activities that include surveys for target groups of invertebrates such as butterflies and fig wasps, setting and emptying pitlines for snakes and lizards, spotlighting for amphibians, harp trapping bats, completing point counts and mist netting for birds, live trapping civets and small mammals, helping with macaque behaviour studies and completing dusk surveys for emerging tarsiers.

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