Madagascar Research Expedition 2014

My name is Giles and I'm a student at Staffordshire University studying 'Bsc Animal Biology and Conservation'. This Summer I'm heading out to Madagascar with the charity 'Operation Wallacea' to partake in much needed research work on the Fauna and Flora of this fantastic place!  90% of the wildlife and plants found on Madagascar are endemic (found no where else in the world) and the Island is a Biodiversity hotspot. However Madagascar is under threat, 90% of Madagascar's original forest habitat has been lost and habitat loss carries on at an alarming rate, threatinging much of the wildlife. Unless this important work is carried out, the future for Madagascars endemic wildlife looks bleak.

I and a group of other people will be working in the Mahamavo dry forest region and adjacent wetlands area.Some of the work I will be doing out there include herpetofauna standard search transects as well as spotlight surveys in the evening for chameleons and frogs. Boat based spotlight surveys for crocodiles are also being completed and there are specialist scientists working on colour change in chameleons. Lemur survey transects are being completed both during the day and also at night using spotlights. In addition there are other teams studying the behaviour of Coquerel's Sifaka and live trapping the nocturnal lemurs to look at niche separation in the various species. Bird point count surveys and mist net surveys are also being undertaken as well as boat based transects for the water birds. There are also small mammal surveys using live traps and mist netting at night to characterise the bat communities. One of the main objectives of the survey is to present the forest areas for potential funding under the REDD+ scheme.