Summary description

This is a sideline activity that complements the management activities on the ground. It is driven by the genuine interest in the biology of threatened species to improve management conditions in the wild and understand the constraints imposed on survival in the wild. Moreover, it is motivated by the sheer desire to understand the functioning of complex ecosystem in a tropical setting of an archipelago that ranks first in the world in terms of biodiversity per unit surface area.
 
 

A transmitter is attached to a hornbill	Monitoring. Photo: Reck

Objective(s):
Research is of two kinds: a) Conservation related, i. e. applied research since conservation is a science of crisis.  b)  Basic research.
a) Conservation related research: Hornbills are monitored upon release by radio telemetry  (see above Rehabilitation and release project) to find out how well they do in the wild as compared to wild conspecifics that have never been in captivity for any length of time. – Another goal is to understand their role, and those of other fruit-eaters, in seed dispersal of forest trees 60% of which are dependent on animals for seed dispersal. – Invasors like the Marine Toad (= Cane Toad, Hawaiian Frog) have an unknown impact on the native soil fauna that needs badly to be studied, to quote just a few of the conservation related questions.
 b) The curious naturalist encounters numerous problems along the way that await exploration in terms of their ecology, evolution and systematics in a region in which still many vertebrates are not discovered let alone be sufficiently known in their biology to promote their preservation.
 
Main activities/outputs to achieve objective(s):
To promote conservation, the biology of endangered species and their relationships within the ecosystem they inhabit must be known. On the other hand, to do good conservation almost enough is known about the species of conservation concern to adopt  sound management policies apt to remove threatened species from the brink of extinction.

Average duration and cost per project:
This depends on the species, on the scope of the problem at hand and – importantly – on a sustained and sufficient funding that must not curtail in any way the practical conservation work.
 
 

In our page  How you can help  you can find information how to support such projects, and you can download a list of projects in PDF format.