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Project properties |
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| Title | Plant Conservation and Reforestation on Bonaire |
| Group | Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group |
| Project type | internship |
| Credits | 24-36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Bonaire: Lauren Schmaltz, Echo General Manager
FEM: Prof. Dr. P.A. (Pieter) Zuidema |
| Examiner(s) | Prof.Dr. F.J.J.M (Frans) Bongers |
| Contact info | lauren@echobonaire.org or http://www.echobonaire.org/about/people/
pieter.zuidema@wur.nl or https://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Persons/dr.-PA-Pieter-Zuidema.htm |
| Begin date | 2017/03/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | On the Caribbean island of Bonaire the Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot (IUCN: Vulnerable) inhabits an equally endangered dry-forest. After felling nearly every tree, early European settlers introduced goats and donkeys. What remains is an uninviting thorny forest heading towards desertification. Working to safeguard the parrot’s future and restore the dry-forest, Echo, an NGO on Bonaire, is tackling the biological and social threats that underpin the current situation. In pursue of this goal, Echo has developed a reforestation project which is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Public Entity of Bonaire for a total of 10 exclusion areas on the island of Bonaire.
The Echo team has established a native plant nursery with over 10.000 plants representing 45 native species. These include species that are important food and nest trees for the parrot including the Guaiacum officinale, G. sanctum (Endangered, IUCN) and Zanthoxylum flavum (Vulnerable, IUCN). Echo is currently planting out 20.000 trees divided over the 10 exclusion areas of each 1 hectare in size. These trees will be planted over a time period of 3 years (with possible 1 year extension). Part of the reforestation project is to monitor the growth of trees. Therefore, each individual tree is tagged with a unique number (species, GPS location and height are also collected). For this project, Echo is looking for internship students who can participate in the various stages of the reforestation project, such as: fencing, preparing plant holes, planting trees, tree aftercare and data collection on planted trees. Best period: rainy season (September – February) Combination: project can be combined internship and thesis Co-operation: project can be cooperative Type of work: field work, nursery management, reforestation planning, data collection. Climate change effects /Biodiversity and functional diversity/ Plant-animal interactions/ Population and forest dynamics/ Sustainable forest management/ Forest restoration and succession / America's / Dry Tropical zone |
| Used skills | GPS, Habitat Analysis, data collection |
| Requirements | FEM-30306 Forest Ecology and Forest Management; REG-31806 Ecological Methods I;
Standard for BSc: minimal 120 credits |