Who We Are
Adam Welsh and Ryan Nolan are MRes Biological Sciences (Wildlife Behaviour and Conservation) students at the University of Chester. Their MRes project involves three months of fieldwork in Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, Ghana, where they will be carrying out surveys focusing on two endangered primate species - the white-naped mangabey and the roloway monkey. However, they will also be surveying all medium to large-bodied mammalian species in the forest reserve. They do this by walking daily transects (pre-determined routes through the forest, walking at a slow pace to record all sightings/calls of these species, as well as signs they have been there, for example feeding evidence) and by setting up camera traps and sound recorders. Camera traps will take photographs of any animal that triggers them by passing by (some are at ground level and others in the rainforest canopy), whilst sound recorders will constantly record every noise in the forest so that calls from these endangered species can be identified. Their field team consists of them plus Kujo (Ghanaian Wildlife Division/WAPCA), Boa (local forest guide), Joe (tree climber) and Kofi (cook/ camp guard/ driver).
The students are working with a research group set up by West African Primate Conservation Action (WAPCA) - a local NGO working in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to preserve and protect the endangered primates of West Africa through community empowerment and education. Their field supervisors are Andrea Dempsey and David Osei, who are both employed by WAPCA.
This project is supervised by Dr Christina R Stanley, a behavioural ecology scientist (focusing on the behaviour of wild animals and their social interactions in particular) and Dr Matt Geary (a conservation biologist), both lecturers in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Chester, as well as external supervisor Dr Matt Hartley (a wildlife veterinarian and conservation biologist) who is a visiting lecturer in our department.
The sound recorders used during this project were donated by Idea Wild, who work to equip, empower and activate the world's most promising environmental leaders to grow and strengthen the movement to conserve the planet's biodiversity.
The students are working with a research group set up by West African Primate Conservation Action (WAPCA) - a local NGO working in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to preserve and protect the endangered primates of West Africa through community empowerment and education. Their field supervisors are Andrea Dempsey and David Osei, who are both employed by WAPCA.
This project is supervised by Dr Christina R Stanley, a behavioural ecology scientist (focusing on the behaviour of wild animals and their social interactions in particular) and Dr Matt Geary (a conservation biologist), both lecturers in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Chester, as well as external supervisor Dr Matt Hartley (a wildlife veterinarian and conservation biologist) who is a visiting lecturer in our department.
The sound recorders used during this project were donated by Idea Wild, who work to equip, empower and activate the world's most promising environmental leaders to grow and strengthen the movement to conserve the planet's biodiversity.