By Kate Robey | Charitable Trust Operations Manager
Dear Supporter,
This month the staff at the GVI Jalova Biological Research Station had the opportunity to present information and data collected over the past year to the Costa Rican park rangers stationed in Tortuguero National Park.
Over a two days the rangers were given presentations about objectives of the projects run at Jalova and information on our most recent findings.
Day one included presentations on the work that GVI volunteers carry out, including new species sightings and a monitoring study of biodiversity in the region, including turtle nesting, canal birds, spider monkeys and jaguars.
The park rangers, who are employed by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, patrol the park on a rotational basis. They have excellent knowledge of the park as a whole but have little experience with the scientific or research side- most rangers specialize in protection or tourist education.
Our aim with the presentations was to further build our partnership with the park, by involving and engaging the rangers in our research, continuing ongoing communications and to present new project ideas and encourage discussions about how to move forward. The presentations were a success and achieved their aims. As a result, GVI Jalova has received a list of species and potential new projects that MINAE are interested in and has begun discussions on how to support MINAE and the park in achieving their research goals. This is something that everyone involved is excited about as it means we have some new and exciting ideas on the horizon for the Jalova research station.
The jaguar presentation held on the second day was presented by our partners at Jaguar Conservation on the North-Eastern Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. Those in attendance included the MINAE Rangers at the Tortuguero Station as well as some of the GVI staff and volunteers who had just completed the ‘Jagwalk’ survey, a 14.5 mile walk aimed to assess the jaguar population, habitat use and predation trends of jaguars on marine turtles along the coastal habitat of the Tortuguero National Park.
The main objectives of the project are to determine jaguar population trends; assess the abundance of jaguar prey species and document the social and feeding behaviours of jaguars in relation to their predation on marine turtles within the coastal habitat. This is accomplished through the use of camera traps – using both permanent and semi-permanent stations – and surveying jaguar predation on marine turtles via the aforementioned Jagwalk survey.
During the presentation, we were re-introduced to these objectives as well as the interesting statistical analysis, completed with the aid of the data collected by GVI Jalova. These included jaguar interactions, the abundance of prey species at the different permanent stations, types of social behaviours seen around a predated turtle (aggression, sharing) and the activity of various jaguars at the various permanent stations. This along with the photographic and video evidence of jaguar behaviours made for a very informative and interesting presentation.
Presentations like these are a great way to check in, share knowledge and decide on how best to move forward. We are so looking forward to seeing what 2016 has in store for us.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
With Gratitude,
GVI Costa Rica
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