(Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed
IL001)
There are at least 26 native species of palm growing in Lambusango
forest. Seven of these species have the classical ‘palm tree’
structure, while the other 19 species are rattans – palms with thin,
flexible stems that are climbers, relying on other trees for
support. These species are of great economic importance to the
local people. The ecology of some of the more common rattans has
been studied, but the ecology of the rarer rattans and the palm
trees has not been fully investigated. The project would involve
following 3 km-long transect lines through the forest and finding
palms. At the site of a single palm, or cluster, a series of
measurements will be taken, including percentage canopy cover, size
of surrounding trees, surface rock type and soil texture. If there
has been no rain recently, a soil moisture reading will be taken.
Soil samples will be collected and later tested in camp for pH and
conductivity. In this way, data will be produced that can be used
to calculate ecological niche widths and overlaps (using computer
programs). This investigation may help to explain how so many
species of palm can co-exist in the forest without interspecific
competition eliminating some species.
A
number of Lambusango forest research projects involve surveying the
characteristics of forest vegetation, involving variables such as
tree size, canopy cover and understorey vegetation density. These
variables are then used as indicators of forest quality and to
monitor spatial and temporal forest changes. A variety of
techniques and methodologies have been used by the different science
teams. For example, canopy cover has been measured by analysing
photographs using a canopy scope, and by visually estimating Braun-Blanquet
cover classes. There is a need for better understanding of how the
data recorded by these different techniques compare, their accuracy,
their usefulness in representing forest characteristics, and their
efficiency in terms of time, equipment needs and surveyor expertise.
This understanding will allow appropriate sharing of data and
development of optimum and standardised methodologies. This project
would involve surveying forest characteristics in a variety of
forest types, using a range of techniques and methodologies, and
could focus on measures of canopy cover, or understorey (ground and
shrub layer) cover.
HM203 The effect of
altitude, rainfall and temperature on leaf structure, Honduras
(Weeks
2 - 8; need to have completed
HM001) This
project is designed to investigate the factors that affect leaf
size, thickness and shape in trees. It is known that these leaf
variables change with altitude but the main environmental driving
force behind this change has long puzzled ecologists. The forest
here allows samples to be taken in areas of quite different rainfall
and temperature and so provide a unique opportunity of teasing apart
this puzzle. Samples will be collected at a number of different
camps using standard techniques to measure leaf area, thickness,
shape, dry weight and dry weight per unit area of the samples. It
will also possible to look at stomatal density, presence of
drip-tips, degree of herbivory and a number of other factors which
link into the overall question. There are also data available from
previous projects that can be used to help gain a bigger picture.
IN204 The effects of
forest disturbance on butterfly communities in lowland
Indonesian
forests
(Weeks
2 - 8; need to have completed
IL001)
Butterflies are often used as biodiversity indicators – community
composition is affected by levels of forest disturbance and openness
of the canopy. Operation Wallacea teams are completing annual
forest butterfly surveys from pollard walks, sweep netting and fruit
baited traps at each of the studied field camps. This survey could
be utilized to ask a series of dissertation or thesis questions.
For example, one project could study the effects that environmental
variables associated with forest disturbance have on butterfly
abundance and diversity. Collection of data on forest structure
factors, such as degree of canopy openness, amount of understory
vegetation, etc. at these sites would then allow the effect of
forest disturbance on butterfly communities to be evaluated.
Alternatively, the effect of height on butterfly community
composition could be studied from fruit baited traps set at
different heights in the canopy. The effectiveness of the various
survey techniques could be examined to determine the effect of time
on the effectiveness of pollard walks, how sweep net catches compare
with pollard walks and fruit baited traps, how bait type affects
catches of butterflies, etc.
IL205 Evolutionary ecology of fig wasps, Indonesia
(Weeks
4 - 8; need to have completed
IL001)
Fig trees (Ficus) are considered keystone species in tropical
forests and support a wealth of vertebrate frugivores (including
charismatic birds, bats and primates). Fig trees fruit in all
seasons to maintain populations of their obligate pollinating wasps.
They also provide a fascinating study system for diverse areas of
evolutionary ecology from sex-allocation to mutualism stability and
community ecology. Alongside pollinating wasps, figs are exploited
by a number of ‘parasitic’ non-pollinating wasps that fill a number
of trophic roles (from herbivores to hyper-parasitoids). In
particular, there are possible research questions on the
interactions between the obligate pollinators of the genus Ficus
and the multiple ‘parasitic’ species that share their intimate
surroundings. This would allow the impact of different types of
parasite (herbivores and parasitoids) on the fig wasp mutualism to
be quantified. There is an extensive species list and high
densities of many Ficus species in and around Lambusango
forests, making this a reasonably well-established study system.
This work is still ongoing and there are also potential research
questions based on fig wasp ecology. Areas of particular interest
include impact of ants on both pollinating and parasitic fig wasps,
mechanisms promoting the co-existence of multiple sympatric
pollinator species and life history trade-offs in different
parasitic fig wasp species.
Pollination is an essential ecological service and bees are
generally considered the most important group of pollinators. Bee
diversity and habitat associations and effects of habitat
disturbance on bees are poorly known in the Neotropics, in general,
and in Honduras, in particular. For example, Panama and Costa Rica
each have almost 70 recorded species of orchid bees, but Honduras
only has 28. This disparity is undoubtedly due to a lack of bee
research in Honduras, since Honduras has a great deal of habitat
diversity and is much larger in terms of land area than either of
the other two countries. Bee diversity will be assessed using a
combination of malaise traps and pan traps, and analyzed in relation
to habitat variables, habitat fragmentation, and disturbance. One
group of bees, the orchid bees, is a potentially useful bioindicator
group of overall bee diversity. Orchid bees will be sampled using
plant extracts as baits to attract the males so that they can be
collected with insect nets. There are many research questions that
could be addressed such as how does species composition vary among
different habitat types? How does forest fragmentation affect bee
diversity? Can orchid bee diversity be used as an indicator of
overall bee diversity? There will also be numerous possibilities to
evaluate trapping methodology (effects of trap colour and height on
bee collections in pan traps, bee collections in malaise vs. pan
traps, effects of different plant extracts on species composition of
orchid bees attracted to bait stations, etc.).
HM207 Diversity and
niche separation in tarantula species in Cusuco Park, Honduras
(Weeks
2 - 8; need to have completed
HM001) In
general, the arachnofauna (spiders and their allies) of Honduras is
very poorly known and there are only 3 described tarantulas from
Honduras, two of which (Brachypelma albopilosum and
Aphonopelma seemanni) were actually described from Costa Rica
though seemingly do occur also in Honduras. The third Honduran
tarantula, Mygalarachne brevipes is the only known endemic,
but only exists in our knowledge as a single old museum specimen,
collected before1871 from an unknown location in Honduras. In Costa
Rica, there are at least 34 well-described tarantula species in a
much smaller geographic area than Honduras (and about 25 more
potential tarantula species, several pending description) so it is
highly likely that there are many tarantula species still waiting to
be discovered in Honduras. Of the 3 species listed from Honduras, 1
of those (A. seemanni) is widely collected in Honduras for
the commercial pet-trade market. A key issue is that A. seemanni
was originally described from Costa Rica, so any trade
identification as ‘A.seemanni’ may be dubious, and multiple
similar species may be being exported under this erroneous name.
Such pet-trade collections of Mexican tarantulas in the early 1990s
led to the blanket protection of the genus Brachypelma under
CITES and the trade in Mexican tarantulas has become tightly
monitored by national wildlife authorities. The current trade in
tarantulas cannot be easily regulated in Honduras yet due to poor
current scientific understanding, and lack of even basic biological
studies. But, protection is likely to be required, and
local-captive breeding of tarantulas for pet-trade export could be a
useful source of revenue. This topic could be developed into a
series of different research questions. For example how many
species of tarantulas are present Cusuco and how do they niche
partition? Pitfall traps adjacent to spider burrows could be used
to determine prey types and observational data gathered on the area
used by each species to collect prey. What differences in prey
types exist between tarantula species, and does prey choice varies
over lifespan of each species? Are there any signs of parasitic
wasps (fm. Pompilidae) preying on tarantulas? Note funding is
available to complete genetic bar coding on the Honduran tarantulas
so this would make an interesting dissertation topic.
HM208 Factors affecting dung beetle, jewel scarab and sphingid moth
communities in cloud forests of Honduras
(Weeks
2 - 8; need to have completed
HM001) This
topic can take advantage of the existing, fixed-method sampling
program of baited pitfall traps for dung beetles at all 150 sites
and of light trapping for moths and jewel scarab beetles at each of
the 28 main sites, as well as the taxonomic expertise on site to
help with identifications. Students on this project will
participate in the main data collection effort, and may also be able
to adapt the sampling program to their own project or set up plots
for experimental studies. There may also be the opportunity to
investigate aspects of ecological genetics, or to utilise GIS in
analysing the local biogeography of these three groups. The dung
beetle community may play an important role as an indicator for the
quality of the local rainforest habitat or for the occurrence of
other taxa. Dung beetle projects could involve analysing community
data from the sampling program in relation to the habitat structure
measurements, for example investigating changes in species
composition with altitude. Dung beetles also play a vital role in
decomposition in the forest and in seed dispersal and the impact and
effectiveness of these roles could be tested using various
experimental designs. Alternatively, a project could use live
trapping of dung beetles to assess how far they travel to their food
source, via mark–recapture methods, or to study aspects of dung
beetle ecology such as diel activity or feeding preferences.
Similarly, community data of the jewel scarab beetles could be
analysed with respect to habitat characteristics. Given that jewel
scarab beetles are extremely attractive and highly valued by
collectors, a project using mark-recapture analysis of trapped jewel
scarab beetles to estimate population size and other parameters to
inform sustainable exploitation of the beetles would also be useful.
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