Citizen Scientists at Iracambi
Iracambi has great pleasure in inviting you to join our exciting new program: Citizen Scientists at Iracambi. You'll be joining the long and distinguished tradition of citizen scientists such as Galileo, Newton and Darwin, and, closer to home, the countless skilled volunteers across the world who lend their time and energy to counting birds, collecting data on river systems, and getting involved in international data collection projects across the world.
After ten years' experience in the field, Iracambi has chosen three priority areas on which to focus: forests, water and biological indicators. Our data collection is designed to be functional, fun and scientifically rigorous, and is based on the IMRAD protocol: introduction, methods, results and discussion. We work with
- Forest monitoring: tracking changes in forest growth and composition on four permanent sampling plots - sucession forest, agroforestry plots, plantation eucalyptus with native species, and swamp habitat. Data on soils includes temperature, humidity and ph levels, in order to help us identify best soil conditions for forest restoration.
- Water monitoring: collecting data in nine sites on water quality (ph levels and turbidity) and quantity, (measuring flow rate) in order to see how reforesting around springs and stream banks affects the production of water.
- Fauna monitoring: animal tracks (including casting) and night cameras to track populations of the keystone species.
- Weather data.
Data is stored on the Iracambi GIS to be shared with local and international partners as part of our commitment to good science and in fulfillment of our mission of saving forests and changing lives.
