Field courses at DGFC
UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG : 4TH-16TH MARCH
University of Freiburg came to DGFC for two weeks and took part in our current projects as well as conducting some of their own. The field course split up into teams, undertaking a short project each. One team used drift fences and funnel to capture frogs and measure their diversity, group two used camera traps to record mammal diversity in different habitat types. Group three did point count surveys with Harry, one of the PTY students from Cardiff University, they did this in both the oil palm plantations and the natural forest and got lots of cool photos!
Lastly, group four set baited traps to capture ant species in natural forest and oil palm plantations to measure their diversity within the different habitats. Alongside all these exciting activities, the field course was also able to sign up to the current projects that are running here at DG, these included tracking cats in the plantations with Amanda, pangolin tracking with Jerry and Maca, nocturnal mammal surveys with Alyssa, bird survey boats, primate boats and much more. We also had an unexpected pangolin capture which enabled the group to see a pangolin up close and experience its release back into the wild! Overall, they had lots of fun and left with some great memories and some new friends. Thank you University of Freiburg and we look forward to seeing you next year!
CORNWALL FIELD COURSE: 30TH MARCH-7TH APRIL
Another year of students from Cornwall College spent a week with us in the jungle. Although they didn’t have much time, they definitely made the most of it with bird and primate surveys along the river daily, fish surveys using cast nets, bat surveys using audio devices and moth surveys using a light trap! They enjoyed placing cameras around the DGFC trails and captured the local wildlife, including a lot of civets and macaques! All of this data is added to many years of ongoing data from their previous field courses.
They also took part in pangolin tracking with our collaborating researchers from University of Hong Kong and going on night surveys with one of our placement year students, Alyssa. The students enjoyed talking and going out in the field with the volunteers and researchers based at the centre and both learned a lot from the other. After their visit they are off to Kota Kinabalu to experience the beautiful marine life living in Borneo’s coral reefs.
Students from Cornwall Field course tracking pangolin
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