Fieldwork campaigns are essential for conservation efforts, as they validate habitat capacity and assess ecosystem health. Biological inventories are integral to these campaigns, and I have actively participated in numerous efforts aimed at identifying endemic species in tropical rainforests.
The following gallery showcases some of the species documented by my team over several years in the Chocó rainforest South America, an immensely valuable region known for its exceptional biodiversity, surpassing even that of the Amazon.
This gallery includes photos taken by Derek Tesser, Raul Nieto (Itapoa Project), and Jaime Culebras (Photo Wildlife Tours) during our biodiversity conservation campaigns in Ecuador between 2015 - 2022.
Habitat Restoration
Habitat restoration is essential for conservation efforts as it counteracts ecosystem degradation, preserves biodiversity, and creates carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. Through my collaborations identifying priority conservation areas and implementing habitat regeneration projects, particularly in tropical forests, we aim to restore critical regions of biodiversity and bolster ecosystem resilience, thereby making substantial contributions to global conservation objectives.
(Left) I developed a forest regeneration index, derived from satellite radar imagery, which is sensitive to various tropical forest land cover types and monitors regrowth. I utilize this method to evaluate the regeneration of tropical forest areas within conservation zones. (Right) Utilizing time-series imagery enables the reconstruction of land cover changes spanning over 20 years, aiding in the assessment of conservation priority regions and their potential for forest regeneration, crucial for biodiversity protection and climate change initiatives.
Natural recovery of converted pasture land (top) and cacao plantation (bottom) back to tropical forest (right) as part of a conservation collaboration project aimed at establishing biodiversity corridors. The number of years indicates the amount of time each site has been naturally regenerating since achieving protected conservation status. Source: https://www.reassembly.de/
We install track cameras in the Itapoa jungle reserve in Ecuador to document the presence of endangered large cats, including jaguars and ocelots. This video shows a local puma, a key indicator of ecosystem health!
