Since 2007, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Leah Dudley has been collaborating in the thesis of University of Magallanes student Ana María Caicheo, under the direction of Drs. Ricardo Rozzi and Francisca Massardo. In March, Ana María and Leah finished one of their final field expeditions as part of this innovative thesis that seeks to determine the role of insects in dispersing the spores of Tayloria mirabilis. The relationship of insects and non-vascular plants is a completely undeveloped field of inquiry in the Southern Hemisphere. This project is a collaborative effort between the IEB, UMAG and Omora with international associates from the University of Labrador, University of Connecticut and Cornell University and is a pioneering activity in the CHBR to determine the ecological role of the “miniature forests” of Cape Horn, which not only are some of the most diverse organisisms in the subantarctic biome, but could potentially also fulfill key ecological functions.
Daily Archives: March 21, 2008
IEB-Omora Expand Outreach to Pre-schoolers
During 2008, the Omora Consortium has prioritized the formal and systematic inclusion of pre-school students and teachers in its outreach and training program. To that end, Omora Outreach Coordinator Paula Caballero and UMAG Masters Student Yanet Medina, under the supervision of Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, initiated a collaboration with Dr. Mirna Pizarro from the UMAG Education Department. In the coming year, Caballero and Medina will training UMAG students in the pre-school education program about the “miniature forests” of Cape Horn. Five of these undergrates will then conduct their theses in Puerto Williams with the public nursery school (JUNJI). In addition, the outreach program this year will also work with the regional JUNJI office to integrate environmental education material into the system’s pre-school curriculum.
OSARA Intern Publishes Seminal Work on the Fío-Fío
During her OSARA internship in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve in 2007, Clare Brown worked long and hard to check and fix the Omora Park’s 8 year database of bird banding information, accumulated since 2000 by numerous field technicians and volunteers. She then helped put those data into a manuscript on the autecology and natural history of one of the subantarctic forest’s few long-distance migratory bird species: the fío-fío (Elaenia albiceps). Clare will now use the experience gained with OSARA to conduct a masters in environmental science at Evergreen State Univeristy.
To view the resulting paper, please visit the website of the Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia.
OSARA Proud of Alumni
OSARA is proud to report that the alumni of its first pilot study abroad program with the University of Georgia in 2005 have used there experience in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve to aspire to new heights. Of the four UGA undergraduate students who conducted their honors theses under the direction of OSARA President Dr. Christopher Anderson, besides winning various awards and scholarships for their theses, all are now in prestigious postgraduate programs, including: Brett Maley (M.S. Warnell School of Forest Resources – UGA), Amy Trice (M.S. Odum School of Ecology – UGA), Clayton Griffith (M.S. Urban and Regional Planning – Georgia Institute of Technology) and William Collier (M.S. Social Ecology of Conservation and Development – Yale University). Congratulations “lab pups”!