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PERUVIAN AMAZON BUTTERFLY MONITORING PROJECT: INVESTIGATING COMMUNITY ECOLOGY, DIVERSITY, AND THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

In the interest of creating more opportunities to gain field experience in tropical conservation, ACA has developed a butterfly monitoring project specifically to be maintained by student volunteers. Volunteers will have the option of working in one (or all) of two field sites in the Andean cloud forest and lowland Amazonian rain forest.

Purpose:

A multi-faceted project which, through monitoring butterfly communities, aims to examine the relationship between biological diversity and primary productivity, the effects of climate change on volant fauna in the Andes, and to gain insight into the complexities of butterfly mimicry and chemical protection.

Methods:

Butterflies are sampled with standard baited traps in a range of habitats and altitudes. The specimens will be catalogued and used to produce identification guides and resources for researchers and education.

Volunteers will collect butterflies, take environmental measurements, learn the basics of insect taxonomy, and gain experience working in a variety of tropical habitats and altitudinal gradients extending from the cloud forests to the lowland rainforests.

Sub-project: Blue-fronted Jacamar feeding experiments.

Purpose: to examine the feeding ecology of an important butterfly predator, the blue-fronted jacamar. This investigation is especially compelling when put into the context of the greater project.

Methods: set wing-traps under perches to monitor the jacamar’s natural diet. Using mist-nets, capture subjects to perform captive feeding experiments.

Data will be collected daily, but volunteers will have ample free time to explore the field sites. Volunteers are also encouraged to shadow visiting researchers in the field in order to gain experience and exposure to a wider variety of ecological investigations.

Location:

Students will work at ACA’s field stations in both the Andes and the Amazon:
Wayqecha Cloud Forest Station (cloud forest, Andean tree line) and Los Amigos Biological Station (lowland rainforest).

Email your CV to atejedor@amazonconservation.org and reservations@amazonconservation.org with the subject line "Butterfly Monitoring Project" and request an application.

For more information about the research sites, see www.amazonconservation.org