Cloud Forest Research Intern
Hiring Organization:
Cloudbridge Nature Reserve
Date Posted:
2008-04-08
Position Description:
This volunteer opportunity involves self-directed research on wild, unhabituated spider monkeys and/or white-faced capuchin monkeys in a cloud forest nature reserve in Costa Rica. In addition to the primate study, research volunteers have the opportunity to participate in other natural science and restoration projects at Cloudbridge.
Research interns will design and execute their own studies.
Research at Cloudbridge is needed on the local species of plants and animals, including identification and inventory. Baseline studies are essential to enable comparisons over time as the ecology recovers and the plantation progresses. Beyond that, a great deal remains to be learned about species' habitats and behavior, and the effects of deforestation and reforestation on them. The cloud forest of Cloudbridge is home to numerous species of birds, including parrots, many hummingbirds, and even the Resplendent Quetzal. Many are endemic to the Talamanca highlands. The reserve shelters spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys, peccaries, sloths, tapirs and other mammals. And lots of arthropods, most of which probably remain to be identified. Bromeliads, orchids, mosses and other epiphytes abound, as do heliconias, tree ferns, vines, lianas, lichens and other flora. Each tree carries a prolific and complex ecosystem of epiphytes, insects, fungi and bacteria as well as birds and mammals. At a more micro level, a single leaf often harbors lichens, liverworts and minuscule creatures feeding on the organic matter and on one another. Much remains to be discovered.
All research volunteers also help with the reforestation project, and with education and community interaction. We plant a variety of species representing the diversity of the surrounding forest. We monitor the habitat recovery on a regular basis.
More information is available on the Cloudbridge web site, www.cloudbridge.org. See in particular the existing list of studies at
http://cloudbridge.org/researchreports.htm
and the Volunteer FAQ at
http://cloudbridge.org/volunteerfaq.htm
and much more about Cloudbridge can be found at
http://cloudbridge.org/sitemap.htm
For more info, contact:
Ian & Genevieve Giddy
Cloudbridge Nature Reserve
San Gerardo de Rivas
Costa Rica
ian@cloudbridge.org or jenny@cloudbridge.org
US Address:
119 West 82nd Street
New York, NY 10024, USA
Tel. +1.646.808.0746
Qualifications/Experience:
Research interns should have sufficient experience and motivation to design and conduct their own independent primate study. Other criteria for acceptance into the Cloudbridge Volunteer Program include:
1. University student or graduate of an environmental or biological studies program
2. Age - 20 or older
3. Some level of Spanish
4. Outdoor experience
5. Financial means and upfront payments for first month
6. Independent personality, but able to function as part of a team
7. Ability to design and write a research proposal
8. Good references from teachers or employers that focus on your suitability as a research volunteer for the projects at Cloudbridge
9. Commitment to stay for the entire period.
Specific assignments will be tailored to the volunteer's background and interests.
Salary/funding:
Research interns pay all their own travel and accommodation costs. No stipend or funding is available from Cloudbridge.
Support
provided for internship/volunteer positions (travel, meals, lodging):
Volunteers can usually stay in Casa Amanzimtoti, adjacent to the reserve, or nearby, at a very low cost. We can give more details upon request.
Term of Appointment:
May 2008 onwards
Application Deadline:
None
Comments:
Cloudbridge, situated in a beautiful and remote cloud forest on one of the highest mountains in Central America, is a private nature reserve in Costa Rica. It was created to preserve and reforest an important gap in the cloud forest adjoining the Chirripo Pacifico river on the slopes of the Talamanca mountain range. The reserve adjoins the primary forest of Chirripo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cloudbridge has been selected as a site in the Smithsonian Institution's Global Biomonitoring Project.
Contact
Information:
Dr Ian Giddy
Casa Amanzimtoti
San Gerardo de Rivas
Costa Rica
Telephone Number:
+1.646.808.0746
Website:
http://cloudbridge.org
E-mail Address:
ian@cloudbridge.org
Questions and Comments
Questions about a specific job listing should be directed to the
contact person listed for that job. Questions and comments about using
the Primate-Jobs web site can be directed to Ray Hamel, Special
Collections/Reference Librarian, at
hamel@primate.wisc.edu or (608) 263-3512.
