Participate
We offer short-term field courses at locations across the globe, and in-depth research training programs in the Peruvian Amazon annually between May and August.
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COVID-19
COVID-19 has dramatically altered most of our lives, introducing uncertainty into our futures and challenging our ability to continue to do conservation on the ground. We’re in this together, and we appreciate your patience as we adapt to these fluid and challenging times. – The FPI Field Team
COVID-19 UPDATES
- Applications for 2021 summer field programs will open June 1
- Applications for 2020's summer field programs are now closed
Disease Ecology
This training program involves primate disease ecology of 11 primate species, and hinges on collecting and analyzing the feces of each of them. We can identify an individual primate, determine its sex, tell if it is sexually mature, assess its stress level, and describe its health status (particularly in terms of parasites and disease): all from a single fecal sample. If we collect from these primates consistently over time, we can eventually follow parasites and diseases as they spread through populations and possibly spill over between species (an exceedingly important consideration for humans). We can also conduct population genetics on these monkeys, which – among other things – is a major tool for monitoring primate conservation status.
Enrollment for Summer 2021 opens on June 1, 2020.
Longterm Wildlife Monitoring
The annual primate census program conducted at EBLA is the foundational research program for FPI. It includes three primate species that are monitored yearly for body condition, disease, and growth. At a population level, we also track individuals across their lifespans, noting births, deaths, mating events and dispersals. We are proud to say that our program does not cause the animals any noticeable harm, and that every animal that has been censused once through the program and that is present the next year, has been censused again. We also provide each individual with a temporary identification tag that will drop off within a couple of months to facilitate the collection of detailed behavioral data on an individual level.
Enrollment for Summer 2021 opens on June 1, 2020.
Conservation Technology and Space Use
Tamarins are some of the most challenging primates to study. They’re small, fast-moving, and highly arboreal. We collect detailed information on space use, feeding ecology, and social behavior by tracking animals in person. In this program, we develop custom-built, low-cost GPS micro-collars to study the movement ecology of tamarins. In addition, we are working on devices that will conduct auto-censuses of animals while recording body mass, which we will deploy year-round when observers are absent from the site. All of these sensors are ultimately linked to a “giant ear in the sky” – a listening network that can pick up small signals from sensors and relay them away from the site to enable remote monitoring.
Enrollment for Summer 2021 opens on June 1, 2020.
Reproductive Endocrinology
Reproductive variation is the currency of evolution, with individuals who produce more offspring having higher chances of passing on particular characteristics. But why do we see reproduction regularly skewed toward particular individuals? In tamarins and other callitrichids, these questions are particularly perplexing. While multiple females may live in a group, reproductive success is generally limited to a single primary breeding female. This female gives birth to twins while the other females in the group almost never reproduce. Through what behavioral or physiological mechanisms does this extreme variation in female reproductive success persist, and why? Answering these questions is key to understanding not only the basic dynamics of callitrichine reproduction, but the fundamental element driving callitrichine evolution.
Enrollment for Summer 2021 opens on June 1, 2020.
summer 2021: genomics in the jungle - peru
We anticipate offering 1-2 sessions of our popular 2-week field course on conservation genomics in Peru. Stay tuned for updates here or sign up for our mailing list here.
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