スミソニアン国立動物園さんのインスタグラム写真 - (スミソニアン国立動物園Instagram)「#SIFocusOnTheFuture is a series that seeks to highlight the early career scientists who conduct research at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Learn about undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral fellows and the conservation research they are supporting through first-hand accounts and stories. Today's fellow is Fernanda Abra, with our Center for Conservation and Sustainability. "In 2019, I won a global conservation award from the @ffnfoundation for my road ecology work and received funding to expand my conservation efforts in the Amazon. As the world's largest rainforest ecosystem, the Amazon basin is a biodiversity hotspot and is home to thousands of Indigenous communities. But it is under threat from human development, such as deforestation. I wanted to work on a canopy project to increase forest connectivity and to reduce road collisions further on the diverse arboreal animals of the region. Canopy connectivity is vital for species like monkeys, who spend most of their time in trees. These arboreal animals are often restricted in their movement due to roads, which break up tree canopies. Roads pose a major dilemma for tree-dwelling animals. They are at risk from car collisions when they venture onto the ground to cross the road. But if they choose not to cross, they risk separation from their habitat and family groups. Habitat fragmentation causes major challenges for species, and can lead to decreases in their genetic diversity and declines in the resilience of their populations. The Reconecta Project is a step towards a more sustainable infrastructure in Brazil. My team and I are learning the best ways to install the bridges; to date, we have installed 30 of them. Testing plays an essential part of the project. Some designs are suitable for specific species and types of locomotion. For example, when we started monitoring the artificial canopy bridges, I realized that monkey species prefer different designs than other arboreal species." Image description continued in comments. First image: a photo of a monkey perched on a tree branch. Second image: a photo of Fernanda building a canopy bridge from rope and cables.」8月26日 0時54分