Author: Raisa Hernandez Pacheco

Spread the word, let’s help our collaborators in Puerto Rico!

Project Monkey Island and the International Primatological Society is seeking volunteers for their fourth trip to the Cayo Santiago Biological Station, Caribbean Primate Research Center, in Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico.

The trip is scheduled for January 2-12th, 2019 and has the mission to continue to clean up Cayo Santiago and begin building structures like water collection systems and corrals, as well as planting trees to reforest the island.  Volunteers will also contribute to repair the primate center’s offices and various houses, schools, and other structures in Punta Santiago. As Project Monkey Island continue these efforts, this project will serve as a template and proof of concept for Primatologists Without Borders, an entity created within the International Primatological Society to provide intermediate- and long-term relief to facilities and communities associated with nonhuman primates that have been
affected by natural disasters.

Opportunities for shared costs with other volunteers for housing, food, and transportation  are available.

For more information on the project, please visit: https://www.projectmonkeyisland.org/index.html

Click here for informational brochure.

Questions: Raisa Hernandez, rhernan2@richmond.edu

The Cayo Santiago Biological Station is an NIH-funded facility of the University of Puerto Rico located in Humacao, Puerto Rico. The station houses over 1,500 free-ranging rhesus macaques. The rhesus macaque population is managed with minimal intervention to support non-invasive research. The capture-released program in Cayo Santiago has produced one of the most extensive demographic datasets for a nonhuman primate in the world, supporting extensive research since 1940’s. During the 2017 hurricane season, the island of Cayo Santiago was hit by Hurricane María, rising concerns regarding the impacts of such perturbation on the viability of the population. We aim at studying the demographic effects of Hurricane María on Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques making inferences on the viability of the population using matrix population models.

Research group: Grayson lab

Term: Summer research

Research focus: Population Ecology

Research objective: To study the demographic effects of Hurricane María on the Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque population

Requirements: We ask students to have a strong interest in quantitative biology and to be comfortable working in R (NO full proficiency required). Students genuinely interested in developing skills in R are welcome to approach us. No field work required.

Contacts: Dr. Kristine Grayson kgrayson@richmond.edu

Dr. Raisa Hernández rhernan2@richmond.edu