Hello Everyone - La MICA Biological Station (www.lamica.org) and Team Snake Panama (www.lamica.org/teamsnakepnama.html) are developing a transect in central Panama running between the Pan-American highway (Pacific versant, 100 m) over the Continental Divide to the Caribbean versant. We have begun a fundraiser involving the general public (see below) and will be putting out cover objects along the transect. Future plans include active searchs and drift fences. Our research will focus primarily on snakes and secondarily on other reptiles and amphibians. Cover objects are not widdely used in the tropics, but we anticipate a variety of taxa, especially invertebrates, herps, and small mammals, utilizing the cover. If anyone has interested in potential collaborations, please send an email to Julie at la.m...@yaho.com to further discuss the project. Furthermore you can request a map of the area. See below if you would like to help the project with a donation.
Thank you! Julie ______________ Adopt A Cover Object!Team Snake Panama (TSP) is invoking on a new research expedition and you can come along! A new road now allows access onto the Atlantic versant in central Panama. This road continues on from our entrance road making it possible to travel from almost the Pacific coast to almost the Caribbean coast in a matter of a couple of hours! This presents the opportunity to study all sorts of characteristics of the flora and fauna. TSP will focus on the snakes. In the US it is common to lay out cover objects to attract and increase the chances of finding snakes. Although this method is not widely used in the tropics, one of the objectives for the new study is to look at the leaf litter snakes. This group is very much understudied throughout the country and little is known about even their general biology. In short, we are going to set up arrays of tin cover objects (later followed by drift fences and active searches) from the Pacific to the Caribbean. We are offering you the opportunity to “adopt a cover object”. With your donation we will purchase the tin and pay local people to cut the sheets to size and distribute them to the appropriate sites. Extra funds will pay for gasoline and local field assistants to check the boards. In exchange for your donation you can follow your cover object(s). Receive updates and photos of the various critters we find under your objects (not just limited to snakes but potentially rodents, insects, lizards, etc.)!How it works: 1. Choose an area where you would like your object placed (see map - request from Julie). Some areas will be surveyed sooner and more frequently than others, but there are a variety of habitats available. We have named each area after a famous herpetologist who has conducted research in Panama. 2. Choose the number of cover objects you would like to adopt. Adopt one object for $10 or an array (6 objects) for $50. 3. Visit Make check to: Julie Ray Send check to: Julie Ray, 12458 132nd Street, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Please note in the memo line “Adopt a Cover Object” 4. Email Julie at This is a fantastic way to not only help support research conducted by Team Snake Panama with the assistance of local Panamanians, but also a way to live vicariously through our work!www.lamica.org/teamsnakepanama.htmland click on the Make a Donation button to submit the amount you will donate. Alternatively, you can send a check.julie.ray@lamica.orgto tell me in which section you would like your boards and to provide an email address where updates can be sent to you. You may also specify if there is a certain type of organism you are most interested in. In the future we will develop a webpage where you can log-on and check up on your adopted object(s). Julie M. Ray, MSc, PhD Director La MICA Biological Station Fundación Centro de Investigación Biológica El Copé, S.A. (Panama) US Address: Julie Ray, 12458 132nd Street, Chippewa Fall,s WI 54729 http//www.lamica.org la.m...@yahoo.com El Cope-La Pintada. Provincia de Cocle. Republica de Panama Panama telephone: [011-507]-6707-8900
