NRES 285/ 499

Applied Plant Conservation at the San Diego Zoo

FAST FACTS

• San Diego Zoo operates the Institute for Conservation Research, and this is the “largest zoo-based multi-disciplinary research team in the world”!!! We’re collaborating with the applied plant ecology branch to work on palm research.

• Goals of the Zoo are to help find solutions to resource use issues through
research and application

• One application for harvest of palms is non-timber forest products, such as food, crafts, and medicines. This can help rural families thrive on palms if used sustainably. There is also a desire to further research palm ecology (no one has extensively researched this palm before) by working with locals who are familiar with palm harvest.

• Nature and Culture International (NCI) seeks to foster this connection between local knowledge and people, sustainable resource use, and land protection.

• 30,000 palm leaves are used to weave ONE ROOF!

• Similarly insane are the photos in this slideshow; the town of Alamos looks gorgeous and those palms couldn’t be cooler. Check them OUT. --Lenna O.

photo from Stephanie L.

Course Overview

This is the first class I have ever taken where I need to push a button to indicate that my hand is raised. There is also a confused face, which I may use often, and an applause/satisfaction icon. I have my karaoke-style microphone plugged in, and I am ready to go. I just hope this rickety 2005 Dell Inspiron does not crash from managing so many complex audio and visual operations. I realize somewhat oddly this a unique experience in that I’m sitting alone in my room, door closed, isolated, yet interacting with other students in similar settings in this virtual classroom of ours. Hopefully their computing equipment is in vastly superior condition. Inspiron and I may not make it til December.


According to the schedule, it looks like we’ll be treated to several guest lecturers on topics as various as palm sampling, carbon offset programs, and the role of NGOs in conservation, all of which can be applied to the tropical deciduous forest (TDF). Our trip to Mexico is tentatively scheduled for January 4-15, 2010, where our mission will be to pilot permanent data collection plots for the palms. It’s exciting (to me at least) how the trip is still in the planning stages; it forces everyone to be dynamic. I like that. It’s still a little abstract as to what we’ll be doing and what we’ll be seeing, even where we’re going, but that will become more concrete with every class. --Lenna O.

photo from notebookreview.com

There is a tendency when you do a Google search for Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, to catch one of two cities in the state by that name. The one Google usually tags is the city further north near the city of Hermosillo--which, by the way is one of our layovers getting to Alamos and back. The location of the course's base camp is the town of Alamos located further south near the border of Sonora and Sinaloa.--Julie D.

Click map to enlarge.

This was the two-step plan for an NRES field course I took this past semester:

1. Meet online every other week to learn about the culture and ecology of palms, land use change, and conservation efforts in the tropical deciduous forest (TDF) surrounding Alamos in Sonora, Mexico.
2. Go to Mexico over winter break to experience all of the above firsthand.

Unsurprisingly, my roommates continue to be horribly jealous of my major.

The class is composed of half grad students and half undergrads. We're meeting online so grad students living in cities other than Urbana-Champaign could participate. Bryan Endress, Christa Horn, and Leonel Lopez of the San Diego Zoo Conservation Branch are spearheading the palm research in Sonora. Bryan will give us lectures emphasizing the known ecology of the palm Brahea aculeata. The unknown parts will be the subject of our research in Mexico. Other lectures will center on factors, such as grazing and over harvesting, that may jeopardize this CITES listed species’ survival.

An equally important theme will be that of conservation and the role of NGOs. In Mexico, we'll learn firsthand how Stephanie Meyer of Nature and Culture International (NCI) collaborates with local people and San Diego Zoo. By providing jobs, setting aside land in a preserve, and facilitating research, this contingent can conserve Brahea aculeata in both a social and ecological context.

Before the trip, each student will complete a research paper and present his findings to the class. Professor Tony Endress will also assign us to each write a list of investigative questions to explore further. Our job is to have an understanding of the main issues before we leave home. Furthermore, we're to be enthusiastic about experiencing the culture, willing to work together, and ready to help research the moment we step off the plane in Ciudad Obregon.--Lenna O.