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Hello!
My name is Ed Basham, and I study frogs. I am on a mission to Gabon, Africa, where I want to study frogs in tropical forests to determine how climate change impacts frog communities worldwide. Check out the video to learn more!
I conducted my PhD research (University of Florida) in Panama - and I found that frogs would climb up and down the trees depending on the season, dry or wet. I concluded that frogs were being pushed down to the ground in the dry season, and climate change will lengthen and strengthen dry seasons across the tropics. Thus, climate change may lead to many adverse effects for frog populations as they are pushed into a smaller amount of habitat near the ground with limited resources.
My method is one of the most difficult but rewarding. I use ropes to access the rainforest canopy, where very few people go. When I'm climbing, I am also searching for frogs, collecting them to identify and measure, swabbing them to check for fungal diseases, then releasing them back where I found them.
I want to test whether frogs also move vertically with the seasons in a completely different location, Gabon. I will be able to confirm if the pattern I saw in Panama is the same across different forests.
To top it all off, no researcher has ever conducted systematic canopy surveys for amphibians in the Congo rainforest. Thus, there is a huge potential to find new species and collect valuable and unique data on the species that live there.
More details
Why frogs?
Not only are they my ecological field of expertise, but they are also perfect models for looking at climate change impacts on ecosystems because they are very sensitive to climate. They are cold-blooded and have permeable skin, so they are tied to the temperature and moisture in their environment. They are the "canaries in the coal mine" for climate change research.
Project budget - subject to some changes depending on funding raised and logistical considerations during the field seasons and subsequent lab work.
- Equipment - Climbing equipment and survey gear (torches, batteries etc) £1000 ($800) paid for by myself or borrowed on loan from the University of Florida
- Flight and visas -.£1500 ($2000) - paid for myself or from external grants if awarded (explorers club)
- Hire of guides ($20 per day is double the standard day wage in Gabon). 1 guide and 1 cook= $40 per day. 5 months of 6 day weeks = 130 days $5200 + the cost of food and other services increases this estimate to $6000 (approx £5000).
- Chytrid disease testing - Funded through external grants and collaboration with the University of Florida and/or the University of Texas.
- Carbon offsetting for flights and project activities - £400 ($500)
Thus you can see that the bulk of project costs will go to hiring workers in Gabon.
Goals
- £3000 to get things running for a shorter 3 month sampling period.
- £5000 to complete a full dry and wet season over 5 months total.
- £10,000 to hire a larger team, cover in-country costs, and expand disease testing of frogs between ground and canopy and across seasons.
Timeline
Arrive in Gabon - late June 2022
Dry season sampling July - mid September
Wet season sampling October - November
Chytrid disease testing - January - February
Analysis and production of final report - March -May
Publish papers - end of 2023.
Project complete!
How do you know this is legitimate?
Look at my website (https://www.edmundbasham.com), my list of published works should give you all the confidence you need that I am who I am, and I have the skills and drive to go to Gabon and start figuring out how diseases and climate change will affect canopy frogs.
Do I have other funding?
I am waiting to hear from two major grants. $5000 from the Explorers Club, and a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Texas, Austin, which would provide a significant $10,000 per year for research funding. The likelihood of receiving this funding is low but not impossible, and I expect to hear in May. The low chance of getting funding is the reason for making this fundraiser, to take luck and chance into my own hands by making it happen regardless. However, I can't keep waiting because the dry season begins in July and I need to start climbing trees!
If I did receive this extra funding, any money donated through this fundraiser would actually go further. I will be able to hire more workers and use external funding to conduct an expanded program of disease and genetic testing of the frogs and conduct another season of sampling. Your money would still go towards the same goals.
If, for any reason, I am not able to go to Gabon, the money will be refunded.
For any businesses that may want to take on a sponsorship role, e.g., for purchasing equipment (rucksacks, climbing equipment, torches, etc), send me an email. I would be open to including sponsors in my updates and published videos. If your company or business is looking to counter its carbon footprint or contribute to ecological projects, this GoFundMe may be an answer.
To see my previous work, please feel free to look at my website linked below.
www.edmundbasham.com
Thank you!
Ed