Earthwatch Award Recipient Summary
Awardee: Kathryn Rodriguez-Clark, PhD.
Affiliation: Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas
Project: Ecuador Forest Birds
Award: 2003 Michael Rose Ecology Scholarship
Project Synopsis
Dr. Kathryn Rodriguez-Clark had recently received her Ph.D. in conservation genetics from Princeton University she was awarded the Michael Rose Ecology Scholarship. As a Rose Scholar she participated in Dr. Dusti Becker's (University of New Mexico) bird research in the rare cloud forest habitat of Ecuador's coastal Colonche Hills. Dr. Becker and her Earthwatch volunteers were instrumental in garnering local community support for the establishment of the Loma Alta Ecological Reserve in 1996, and so the project was considered an ideal training ground for an aspiring conservation biologist. As a team member, Dr. Rodriguez-Clark gained valuable field experience patrolling mist nets, conducting bird surveys, documenting forest resources, and interacting with local community members.
Award Outcomes
The Rose Scholarship allowed Dr. Rodriguez-Clark to:
· Reflect on the importance of her quantitative genetics research
· Challenge herself physically and consider the diverse rewards of field research
· Exercise and confirm her skills in speaking Spanish
· Observe and learn from an ideal scientist role model
Dr. Rodriguez-Clark found her experience in Ecuador to be a valuable reminder of the socioeconomic nuances of conservation field research. Although she did some mist netting and other fieldwork for her masters' degree, her PhD focused more on labwork and more theoretical quantitative genetics with conservation applications. Her experience on Ecuador Forest Birds helped Dr. Rodriguez-Clark put her field of conservation genetics into a more realistic context, with human costs and benefits, and gave her direction for future research efforts.
The expedition also served as a physical challenge, which reminded Dr. Rodriguez-Clark that she is still capable of long stretches of intense fieldwork. It presented her with a significant opportunity to practice the Spanish skills which she had been developing in Venezuela during the prior year, and to form close personal ties to other expedition members-a couple of whom she remains in touch with.
Most importantly, Dr. Rodriguez-Clark benefited from the mentorship and example Dr. Dusti Becker provided. As a postdoc in conservation genetics in Venezuela, she is actively involved in several field projects that include volunteers, and she often reflects on her experience in Ecuador to respond to challenges in the field. She values the opportunity she had to learn from a more experienced scientist, and often imagines how Dr. Becker would rise to such challenges.
Publications and Papers
"A Cloud Forest by Numbers?" in October 2003 Earthwatch Institute member journal
Quotes
"It was a great honor to be chosen, particularly given the tragic event that the scholarship commemorates; it reminded me how precious life is and how incredibly lucky I am to be in the field I am-and how amazing it is that there are families like the Roses that can rise above their personal loss to support such work. "
"I found it was particularly valuable to see how another scientist interested in conservation balances the inevitable mix of scientific and "non-scientific" issues that go along with conducting projects that have a chance to make a real difference. Dr. Dusti Becker, the principal investigator, provided a great model for project and personnel management, and for maintaining an infectiously positive attitude under all kinds of circumstances."
"Earthwatch Institute goes far beyond graduate courses in ecology. Only face to face with the people of Loma Alta is it obvious that ticking off 304 birds is not an end in itself, but firmly in service of something more important. The challenge we face as scientists is to find meaningful ways to measure what mighty seem impossible in the face of mud and mosquitoes and very early mornings, then to remember that the work only starts with these hard-won numbers. It stops when we have also mastered the intangibles-politics and relationships, socio-economics and personal values-that all somehow combine to keep a cloud forest standing."