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Cusuco cloud forest biodiversity research
This research team is based in the Cusuco National Park; a site which has been listed in a review of 173,000 protected areas in the world as being in the top 50 most important sites to conserve. On arrival the first week is spent learning to live safely in the forest during a jungle survival course (which can include a canopy access course for an additional cost) and a lecture course with practicals on Neotropical forest ecology. After this week-long induction, you will be joining the largest group of forest researchers at any of the Opwall sites. Projects include measuring forest structure and carbon content of the forest, light trapping for moths and jewel scarab beetles, bird point counts and mist netting surveys, determining chytrid infection rates within amphibians, completing spotlight surveys for amphibian distribution, visual transect surveys for herpetofauna, mist netting and soundscape surveys for bats, small mammal trapping and camera trapping for larger mammals alongside many other projects.
Utila and Tela marine biodiversity research
This research team is split across two centres – one on Utila Island and one on the mainland at Tela – and has published 60 papers from just the last few seasons. For your first week at the centre you will take part in one of the courses, either learning to dive to PADI Open Water level, or completing the Caribbean reef ecology course if you are already dive trained or have chosen to snorkel instead. If you are spending two weeks or longer at the marine sites, you will then either complete the Caribbean reef ecology course in your second week or help the researchers with multiple marine research projects. On these projects, you will help collect valuable data to contribute towards our Caribbean research and conservation goals, and you will have the choice of rotating between multiple teams or focusing on a single project, depending on your own interests. Projects will either focus on the use of technological solutions in coral reef research (e.g. stereo-video surveys of fish biomass, machine learning in reef health surveys, and 3D computer modelling of reef architecture), or on improving our understanding of the ecology and behaviour of key coral reef organisms (e.g. cleaning interactions, invasive lionfish).
The forests of Central America are some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, partly because they are the meeting point of two great faunas – those from North America and those from South America – which have evolved separately. Many of these ecosystems have been badly degraded but there is a proposal to join currently discontinuous areas of forest into a continuous Mesoamerican forest corridor running from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico (where there are other Opwall teams) to Panama. Part of this corridor will encompass the cloud forests of Cusuco National Park in Honduras – a site rich in endemics and endangered species yet threatened by unchecked illegal deforestation. The Opwall survey teams have been working in Cusuco since 2003 and the data produced has resulted in the Park being listed as one of the top 50 most irreplaceable protected areas in the world (based on a review of 173,000 sites worldwide). As well as underlining the biological value of Cusuco, the datasets collected by the Opwall teams are also being used to make an application for funding through a carbon credit scheme and for a UK govt grant for conservation of this region. Funding obtained in this way will then be used to manage and protect the park and the many unique species it supports.
In the Caribbean, there are a number of core issues that have been affecting the biodiversity of coral reefs, including the mass mortality of keystone sea urchins that have allowed algal colonisation of reef areas, an invasive predator (lionfish) originally from the Indo-Pacific that has spread across the Caribbean, and overfishing of reef fish by local communities. Opwall has two marine research sites in Honduras where these issues and many more are studied: one is on the island reefs of Utila and the second on the coastal barrier reef of Tela. At both sites, teams of Opwall scientists and students collect annual monitoring data to assess temporal patterns in reef community health, alongside novel research to address key conservation priorities and gaps in our current understanding of these fragile ecosystems. Honduras is also home to Opwall’s pioneering efforts to integrate technological solutions into the monitoring and study of coral reefs, including our 3D computer modelling method. Opwall’s team of marine scientists in Honduras helps to support not only international academic research and new method development, but also supports local non-governmental organisations with their efforts to improve marine conservation in Honduras.
Most of our volunteers fundraise for their expedition costs. Find out more.
Climate
In the cloud forest of Cusuco National Park it can get warm in open areas (temperatures up to 20 degrees Celsius) but much cooler in the shade of the forest. Overnight the temperature can drop below 10 degrees Celsius at higher altitudes. It rarely rains in the morning but it regularly rains late in the afternoon and overnight. Our marine sites are hot and usually dry, but with occasional storms.
Fitness level required
Medium – High in Cusuco. You will need to hike from camp to camp for up to 5 hours with your backpack over steep terrain. At the marine site some fitness is required for in water activities, but conditions are relatively easy.
Creature comforts
Facilities in Cusuco are very basic (tents, hammocks, river showers, basic trench toilets). There is no cell phone signal in Cusuco National Park and very limited satellite internet available through a communal laptop at Base Camp. Marine site facilities are comfortable but basic. There is phone signal and limited wifi that is often unreliable.
It is sometimes possible to use an Operation Wallacea expedition to gain credits from your own university. Find out more here.
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