In Greenery We Trust
Category: Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Floral surveys, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Nov 18 2009 | By: gvikenya
If anyone has ever tried to read and understand a botany book (botanists excluded), then you will understand what I mean when I say it’s nigh on impossible, and vaguely similar to reading a foreign language. This is the problem we have encountered for quite a while now…
As part of our forest research programme, we conduct fruit and flower surveys along our transects. This involves spotting any tree, shrub, plant or vine within 10m either side of the transect that is in fruit or flower. We then collect a sample, take loads of photos (of the fruit or flower, the leaves and the bark) and take it back to base where we press and dry it. Once pressed and dried, we back them onto cardboard and add it to our herbarium catalogue.
Solanum incanum
We do this to establish the floral makeup of the forest, monitor the presence or absence of species over time and in relation to disturbance, and to correlate with sightings of animal species, specifically the primate species.
Of course all of this is useless if one cannot identify the species! So instead of spending countless days fruitlessly battling with the botany books, we have started making regular visits to a friendly local botanist, who effortlessly breezes through our samples and puts us all to shame!
George assessing a tree species
The man’s name is Sayeed, and he works for National Museums of Kenya Coastal Forest Research Unit, and is based in Ukunda which is about one hour fifteen minutes drive from Shimoni. National Museums of Kenya is the governmental organisation that is responsible for all of Kenya’s cultural and heritage sites, monuments, areas and issues. The have a vested interest in the coastal forests of Kenya, due to the presence of Kaya’s, which are traditional religious sites and shrines in these forests. If you would like to know more about those, you can visit some of our earlier blogs which go into them in more detail.
One of the more spectacular flowers!
Sayeed finished high school in Kenya, but did not go further in his education than that. He has been working for NMK for 16 years now, and everything he knows is pretty much self taught. And trust me when I tell you it’s a lot! We must have been in his office for at least 6 hours, and we probably went through several hundred specimens and photographs, with only 3 remaining ‘unidentified’ at the end. And all of this – without a book! Occasionally he would go rifling through his extensive herbarium (which puts ours to absolute shame!) to pinpoint the exact species, but most of them he would simply tell you after a moments thought.
Measuring the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)
When asked how he became so good, or why he does it, he simply replies “I like plants”. Good answer I say! Some of his other duties include maintaining and updating the herbarium and looking after the hundreds upon hundreds of indigenous saplings in the NMK tree nursery which is used for replanting in degraded areas.
People like Sayeed truly inspire me, by their unrivalled and awe inspiring knowledge, as well as their dedication to their work. And some of the work Sayeed does is really quite amazing. We are currently raising money for tree saplings on behalf of Friends of Shimoni Forest, and when we have enough to buy and plant these saplings in Shimoni forest, I know exactly whose advice I am going to seek!
*if you would like to help Friends of Shimoni Forest or to find out more please visit www.justgiving.com/shimoni
Tags: , animal species, botanist, botany book, Coastal Forest, Coastal Forest Research Unit, correlate, cultural and heritage, degraded areas, diameter at breast height, floral makeup, foregin language, forest research programme, Friends of Shimoni Forest, fruit and flower surveys, governmental organisation, herbarium, herbarium catalogue, indigenous saplings, Kaya, Kenya, monuments, National Museums of Kenya, photographs, primate species, relation to disturbace, replanting, shrines, shrub, Solanum incanum, specimens, traditional religeous sites, transects, tree, tree nursery, unidentified, vine
Cutting Our Way To Shimoni West
Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: gvikenya
Well my arms are aching and my hands are blistered, yet I feel the need to let everyone know about why…
We have been doing primate and biodiversity research on Shimoni east forest for almost 4 years now, and are getting some robust data. Yet just across the road on the other side of Shimoni village lies the uncharted, and mysterious realm of Shimoni west, ever beckoning us to it. We have been planning to expand our research into Shimoni west for a while now, and have finally begun the adventure.
The girls ready for the day
The western forest is almost twice the size of its counterpart, and teaming with flora and fauna that are crying out for recognition. There is definitely a viable population of our beloved colobus monkey, as highlighted by the censuses conducted in 2001 by Julie Anderson and in 2007 by GVI. That is the only time GVI have officially done research in West, and Anderson’s census is the only other event.
We have on occasion, ventured into Shimoni west on fact finding missions and with the intention of making preliminary assessments into the possibility of starting research in there, and one thing we have noticed is the high level of disturbance ranging from charcoal pits, pit saws and snares. This only increased our sense of urgency.
Katie getting stuck in
So as of last week, we have officially begun our preparations. By preparations, we mean donning work gloves, sharpening our pangas (machetes) and practicing our angry faces and heading into West to begin the long and tiresome process of cutting transects. Transects are an essential part of research (specifically for distance sampling – the method of survey we use for the primates), which involves cutting paths in a grid system that allow us to pass relatively easily through the research area. We do try and minimize the damage we cause, so there is always plenty of crawling and climbing!
Matt’s panga face
We’ve started cutting our north / south spine, which will run approximately 1 – 1.2 km through the centre of the forest, off which our research transects (that run east-west) can cross. We have done two days so far, and have gone approximately 600 metres! That may not sound like much, but trust me on this – it’s not bad! This endeavor will take many months to complete (as we still have to carry on our surveys in East), but we’ll keep you updated on our progress.
Once more into the breach dear friends!
Tags: , adventure, angolan black and white colobus, biodiversity research, census, Charcoal Pit, climbing, colobus monkey, crawling, distance sampling, disturbance, fauna, flora, grid system, Julie Anderson, machete, panga, pitsaws, preparations, Primate Research, research area, Shimoni east forest, Shimoni village, Shimoni west forest, snare, snese of urgency, transects, western forest, work gloves
-
100% of your donation, minus a small bank fee, will go to your intended purpose.
Donations made here are safe.
