20132013
What is Operation Wallacea?• Tropical scientific expeditions in 9 countries• 170+ academics running more than 120 projects• Results published in peer-reviewed journals
What is Operation Wallacea?• 30 new vertebrate species to science discovered• Large temporal and spatial data sets obtained from
tuition fee funded model• Data used to assess the performance of conservation
management programs
Global Research and Conservation Strategy• Stage 1 - Assessing ecosystem diversity and function• Stage 2 - Monitoring ecosystem change• Stage 3 - Monitoring socio-economic change• Stage 4 - Establishing & monitoring the effectiveness of
conservation management programs
Team Members
Principal Researchers
Assistant Researchers
Visiting Academics
Dissertation Students
Research Assistants
Medical Staff
Pre–med Expedition Medicine
Operations Staff
Joining as a Research Assistant•Course credit available
•Gain experience for CV or for helping to choose career direction
•Fixed Itineraries (Madagascar, Egypt, Cuba, Guyana, Mexico, Peru, South Africa)
•Personalized Itineraries •(Indonesia, Honduras)
•Pre–med: Expedition Medical course
MadagascarMadagascar
Spiny Forest Biodiversity Survey
Data gathered for Biosphere application for Mandrare Valley
Madagascar Wildlife and Communities course in Week 1
Rotate between camps across Ifotaka North
Scan and focal sampling of Verraux’s Sifaka and Ring Tailed Lemurs
Spotlight and trapping surveys for nocturnal lemurs
MadagascarMadagascar
Spiny Forest Biodiversity Survey
Invasive plant surveys
Vegetation surveys using Gentry plots
Bird point counts and mist netting
Iguana activity budgets
Day time and spotlight surveys for chameleon diversity
MadagascarMadagascar
EgyptEgypt
Mountain Desert Biodiversity Survey
Data contributing to biodiversity atlas survey of St Katherine Protectorate
Desert living training in first 3 days
4 days surveying in mountain desert and living in Bedouin camps
Surveys are for target plants, reptiles and bird surveys from transects, small mammal trapping, grazing pressure of ibex, etc.
EgyptEgypt
Red Sea Reef Ecology Course
EgyptEgypt
CubaCuba
Reef Surveys on Isle of Youth
Data contributing to management plan for southern Isle of Youth Sustainable Management Zone
Based in remote hotel and working off research ships
Week 1: Learning to dive and training in reef fish identification OR if already a qualified diver, completing a Caribbean reef ecology course
Week 2 : Rotating between research ship surveying remote reefs with stereo video, helping the manatee surveys and analyzing the stereo video data
CubaCuba
Stereo Video Surveys
CubaCuba
Analyzing Stereo Video Footage
GuyanaGuyana
Guiana Shield Forest Biodiversity SurveysData being used to assess effects of selective logging on biodiversity
Based in remote forest field camps
Week 1: Guiana Shield forest ecology and jungle survival course
Weeks 2 & 3: Working from 2 different camps
Mist netting for birds and bats
Herpetofauna surveys – transects & spotlighting
Large mammal transect surveys
GuyanaGuyana
Burro Burro River Surveys
GuyanaGuyana
MexicoMexico
Mayan ForestBiodiversity Surveys
First large-scale surveys of the vast Calakmul Biopshere.
Data collected for REDD+ application and data for setting sustainable hunting quotas
Mayan forest ecology course and visit to the Mayan ruins in Week 1
Butterfly and moth surveys
Mist netting for birds and bats
Pitfall traps and transect searches for herpetofauna
Transect sampling and camera trapping for mammals
MexicoMexico
Forest Elements of the Mexico Programme
MexicoMexico
Marine Elements of the Mexico Programme
MexicoMexico
PeruPeru
Amazonian Forest SurveysData collected for REDD+ application and data for setting hunting quotas
Based on research ships
Amazonian wildlife conservation course in week 1
Bird mist netting and water bird transects
River dolphin surveys
Fish community surveys
PeruPeru
Amazonian Forest
Surveys
Amphibian surveys
Macaw counts
Large mammal transects
Camera trapping
River turtle population counts and nest transferring (water level dependent)
Primate niche separation and time budgeting
PeruPeru
Caiman Surveys
PeruPeru
South AfricaSouth Africa
Elephant Carrying
Capacity SurveysTwo low veld sites – one in Kruger and one in Thanda in KwaZulu Natal
How do you determine elephant carrying capacity
Bush training and savannah ecology course in week 1
Week 2 onwards field surveys for half a day each day
Other half in camp completing African wildlife conservation course
South AfricaSouth Africa
Sodwana Bay, South Africa
South AfricaSouth Africa
Personalized Itinerary Options
2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks
Select the training course and research assistant options for your itinerary
Options in Indonesia and Honduras
IndonesiaIndonesia
Training Courses
Jungle training and Wallacea wildlife course
Canopy Access
Dive training
Indo Pacific reef ecology
Divemaster training
IndonesiaIndonesia
IndonesiaIndonesia
Marine Research Assistant Projects
in Indonesia
IndonesiaIndonesia
HondurasHonduras
Training Courses
Jungle training and Neotropical wildlife course
Canopy Access
Dive training
Caribbean reef ecology
Divemaster training
HondurasHonduras
HondurasHonduras
HondurasHonduras
Pre-Med Expedition Medicine Course
Jungle survival & Neotropical ecology course
Expedition medicine course with lectures and practicals on:•pre-expedition planning•medical emergencies and trauma in the field•tropical infections•snake bite and envenomation
PADI open water dive training or Caribbean reef ecology course
Expedition Medicine
Expedition Medicine
Senior Thesis Research Topics• Complete data collection over summer
• 90% + of students get top two grades for field projects
• Recent projects at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Toronto, Birmingham, Manchester and others have won best departmental dissertations
Academic Support
Botany and Invertebrate Research Topics• Environmental impacts on leaf formation• Epiphytes in cloud forests• Forest disturbance impacts on butterflies• Orchid bee diversity• Niche separation in tarantulas• Dung beetle communities in cloud forest
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Herpetofauna Research Topics• Impacts of habitat on Sulawesi herpetofauna
•Abundance and distribution of threatened amphibians in cloud forest
•Population ecology of Hog Island Boas
•Behaviour and ecology of ctenosaurs
•Niche separation in caimans
•Herpetofaun acommunities in Mexico
•Sea turtle behaviour and nest site preferences
•Colour change in chameleons and leaf tailed geckos
•Population levels of Nile crocodiles in Madagascar
•Population levels of colubrid snakes
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Peru, Mexico, Madagascar
Bird Ecology
Research Topics• Habitat associations of Sulawesi birds• Behaviour of island birds• Cloud forest bird communities• Assessing detectability of forest birds• Effects of fire on winter bird communities• Bird communities in different Amazonian habitats• Water bird communities in the Amazon• Endemic bird habitat associations in Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, South Africa, Peru, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, South Africa, Peru, Madagascar
Mammal Research Topics•Sulawesi forest bat communities
•Civet ranging behaviour
•Arboreal marsupial ecology in Sulawesi
•Population levels of Sulawesi megafauna
•Vasectomy impact s on elephant behaviour
•Carrying capacity of reserves for elephant
•Distribution patterns of large herbivores
•Niche separation in Amazonian dolphins
•Occupancy modeling and camera trapping mammals in Amazonia , Mexico or Madagascar
•Comparison of mist net and sonogram surveys for bats
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, South Africa, Peru
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, South Africa, Peru
Primate Research Topics
• Effects of forest disturbance on Buton Macaque behaviour
• Sleeping tree selectivity in tarsiers
• Niche separation in Amazonian primates
• Spider monkey grouping patterns
• Feeding ecology, habitat selection and activity budgets in Coquerel’s and Verreaux’s Sifakas
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Madagascar
Marine Ecology Research Topics
• Resource utilization of reef fish across environmental gradients• Association between anemone fish and host anemones• Competition between hard coral species• Comparison between reef and reef fish survey methods• Island biogeography of coral reef patches• Sea urchin ecology in the Caribbean• Changes in reef fish from stereo video surveys• Reef fish and benthic communities in Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Madagascar
Intertidal Research Topics
• Niche separation in fiddler and sentinel crabs• Physiological adaptations of rock pool species• Seagrass ecology• Impact of mangrove degradation on functionality
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Environmental Science Research
Topics• Impact of coral growth forms on biodiversity•Photoacclimation response of reef building corals• Effects of Crown of Thorns starfish on reefs• Effects on corallite morphology of sedimentation• Spatial variation in coral mortality• Environmental impact of seaweed farms• Hydrography & water quality of coastal lagoons in Mexico
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras
Marine Physiology Research Topics
• Effects of noisy soundscapes on settling crabs• Physiology of cephalopods• Temperature preferences of intertidal fishes• Water loss resistance of intertidal crabs• Emergence patterns in mudskipper species in relation to water loss• Resistance of tropical frogs to water loss• Ecophysiology of mangrove corals
Senior Thesis Topics – IndonesiaSenior Thesis Topics – Indonesia
Fisheries
Research Topics• Changes in the Kaledupa reef fishery 2007 – 2013• Effects of fish fences on fisheries•Cleaner fish behavioural strategies•A comparison of fish diversity in different Amazonian habitats•Stream fish diversity in cloud forest
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Peru
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Honduras, Peru
Genetics Research Topics• Barcoding diversity of Cusuco cloud forest• Landscape genetics of amphibians• Chytrid fungus impacts on frogs• Genetic diversity in tarantulas
Senior Thesis Topics - HondurasSenior Thesis Topics - Honduras
Spatial Ecology and GIS Research
Topics
• Mapping forest change in Sulawesi •Species distribution modeling • Landscape ecology in Madagascar
•Remote sensing and environmental modeling in Madagascar
• Developing monitoring protocols for REDD+
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Madagascar
Conservation Management
Research Topics• Resilience of marine dependent communities• •Impact of ecotourism growth in the Wakatobi Islands
• Forest land tenure in Madagascar
• Economic impacts of tourism in southern Madagascar
• Natural resource dependent livelihoods in Mandrare Valley
• Assessment and valuation of ecosystem service provision in Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Madagascar
Senior Thesis Topics – Indonesia, Madagascar
Dates and Prices
Expeditions run over the summer
Itinerary advice at next meeting or emailed
Prices
2 weeks - $1,7504 weeks - $3,200
6 weeks - $4,3508 weeks - $5,500
Fundraising support with information about grant opportunities
Masters Field
Placements
• Available for 6 months from January 2014
PhD Grants Available
Staff Positions
After Your Op Wall ExpeditionAfter Your Op Wall Expedition
Questions?
Feedback From the 2012 ExpeditionsYou come for one reason, but want to stay for another. I was most profoundly affected by the knowledge I learnt outside the traditional learning environments. Natalia Paine, Harvard University, USA; Research Assistant, Indonesia Expeditions Expedition
My Op Wall experience opened my eyes to a world of research and my heart to a level of love for nature that I didn’t know was possible. Kayla Mann, University of New Brunswick, Canada; Research Assistant, South Africa Expedition
Amazing experience! A lot of knowledgeable staff that you could learn from. Love the hands-on stuff!! Christine Munro, McMaster University, Canada; Dissertation Student, Honduras Expedition
Close encounters of the elephant kind are amazing and will keep me coming back to South Africa. Anna Ree, Concordia University College of Alberta; Dissertation Student, South Africa Expedition
20122012