International Aroid Society

Okay, Aroiders,

A couple years ago, I visited a relatively new Reserve in coastal Ecuador, in the transition zone between the extremely wet Choc=C3=B3 region and the extremely arid Peruvian coast, in the Jama-Coaque Mountains, between Pedernales and Jama, in the province of Manab=C3=AD. This is a relatively unexplored region biologically: while I was there, we found reptiles not known to occur in the region, thus representing a range expansion, and a prior researcher found undescribed amphibian species. My initial, informal survey revealed a diversity of Aroids, but I was not equipped to make a proper study, and in any case I arrived as the blooming season was ending. But I know we have botanists among us whose life work is exploring for biodiversity and describing new species, so, in case there is interest in doing a proper survey of this Reserve, I here quote in full the reply letter I just received to my inquiry:

Hi Jason,

I was just forwarded your below email. To answer your question, yes, we do indeed accept researchers at the Jama-Coaque Reserve. The person/ team you are likely talking about is Paul Hamilton, who is the Executive Director of our partner NGO The Biodiversity Group. They were the first outside research team to visit our reserve to conduct research (on the reptiles and amphibians).

As our organization has grown over the past few years we've begun to act more and more like a research station. We now run a split internship that has a Permaculture side as well as a biological research side. So we now have student interns studying both sustainable farming techniques as well as students carrying out a variety of research topics with wildlife. The interest in our work and the Reserve has grown since you when you were in the Reserve, so we've begun to take steps to independently develop a research facility for non-interns as well.

We are currently in the middle of a construction project for a new second building on the property next to the Bamboo House that will be used for visiting researchers. The new station will have 6 beds available as well as a lecture/ lab/ work area for researchers. We hope to open the new research center by February, but this will depend on progress on the building and the success of our current fundraising campaign. Once the new center is up and running we will accept both short and long-term researchers in the reserve to conduct their own studies. Food and lodging will be provided (cooking for yourself), but the work that is conducted will be entirely self-driven and not connected to the internship or the TMA managers that lead our internship.

The process to use the Reserve as a study site for independent projects will involve a short written proposal to our team at least a month in advance of your desired visit. We will then review your proposed study and time table and determine if we have any questions or concerns. Any hands-on studies with wildlife will need to be conducted under independently acquired Ministry of Environment permits prior to arrival at the Reserve. But if that was the case we would be happy to put you in touch with potential in-country partners that would make the process of acquiring permits easier. We can also help you determine if permits will be required for your specific project.

Although we'd love to accept everyone, we will not be accepting extremely short visits for tourism purposes at this time. The new biology station will be used only by visiting researchers and student groups who can work independently of our internship staff.

The cost for visiting the reserve as a visiting researcher will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $10-20/ day/ person. We will decide the price for each visiting researchers/ team on an individual basis according to their project and the length of time they plan to stay. And as I mentioned previously, this price will include all food and lodging while in the Reserve.

If you would be interested in visiting the Reserve or know someone that would, please keep in touch with us over the coming months as we unroll this new side of our work. You literally wrote us just as we we're unrolling this new side of TMA in the Reserve, so we're still working out all of the details for the grand opening in 2015.

It's great to know you've kept up with our work and may be interested in coming back to Ecuador to work. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or comments.

Cheers,

Ryan