MANEJO COMUNITARIO DE LA CACERÍA DE SUBSISTENCIA EN LACHUÁ, GUATEMALA
La cacería de animales silvestres para consumo doméstico forma parte de la identidad de muchas comunidades indígenas del área rural de Guatemala. En la ecoregión Lachuá habitan 55 comunidades Maya-Q'eqchi' que poseen prácticas tradicionales de aprovechamiento de recursos, como es la cacería. En el año 2000, la Escuela de Biología de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala inició un estudio de caracterización de la cacería de subsistencia en las comunidades aledañas al Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá. En el 2004, un equipo transdisciplinario empezó a promover esfuerzos participativos y consensuados, orientados al manejo comunitario de la cacería de subsistencia; y desarrolló el Programa de Educación Ambiental Bilingüe Participativo, el cual se esta implementando actualmente. Este proyecto esta siendo construido y planificado con autoridades, líderes y organizaciones de 21 comunidades locales, organizaciones gubernamentales y ONGs que trabajan en la ecoregión Lachuá, constituyendo un fuerte vínculo entre la conservación de la vida silvestre y el conocimiento tradicional y cosmovisión Maya-Q'eqchi'. Para mayor información visitar www.orcondeco.org, o comunicarse con Marleny Rosales marleny.rosales@gmail.com
CAPTIVE CARE AND CONSERVATION OF CALLITRICHIDS AND LEMURS
Durrell's International Training Centre (ITC), in conjunction with the Mammal Department are running the course Captive Care and Conservation of Callitrichids and Lemurs. The course will be based at the ITC at Durrell's headquarters on the island of Jersey, British Channel Islands, from September 28th-October 2nd, 2009. The main topics will include: Planning your captive collection: making the link to the wild; Enclosure design, stress management and nutrition; Population management for controlled breeding programmes; Past, present and future for callitrichid and lemur conservation, and the role of zoos. For further details contact Catherine Burrows at catherine.burrows@durrell.org
THE MOHAMED BIN ZAYED SPECIES CONSERVATION FUND
The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is a significant philanthropic endowment established to provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives, to recognize leaders in the field of species conservation, and to elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate. The fund's reach is truly global, and its species interest is non-discriminatory. It is open to applications for funding support from conservationists based in all parts of the world, and will potentially support projects focused on any and all kinds of plant and animal species, subject to the approval of an independent evaluation committee. For more information visit: www.mbzspeciesconservation.org/
SEED DISPERSAL BY GOLDEN-HANDED TAMARINS (SAGUINUS MIDAS) IN BROWNSBERG NATUURPARK, SURINAME: PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Brian W. Grafton, Ph.D and E. Natasha Vanderhoff, Ph.D conducted a preliminary study of seed dispersal by golden-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas) during June 2008 in Brownsberg Natuurpark, Suriname in preparation for a long-term study of the importance of small-bodied primates as seed dispersers. We collected 22 dung samples containing the seeds of 11 plant species from an unhabituated group at a single dispersal site (a Ficus spp. tree used as a feeding tree). The recovered seeds varied in size from 0.48 cm to more than 1.5 cm (largest dimension), and belonged to a minimum of six plant families (Apocynaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Rubiaceae, and Verbenaceae). Research on primate seed dispersal in the Neotropics is biased toward large-bodied primates, which may lead to an incomplete picture of seed dispersal in many Neotropical primate communities. We plan to investigate the potentially important ecological role small primates like Saguinus may play in tropical ecosystems. For more information, contact Brian W. Grafton and E. Natasha Vanderhoff, at bgrafton@kent.edu and nvander4@ju.edu.
