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We offer short-term field courses at locations across the globe, and in-depth research training programs in the Peruvian Amazon, typically between May and August.

Genomics in the Jungle IV

Biodiversity Monitoring in the Amazon with metabarcoding techniques!

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Wildlife Biology Program

Long-term field research training in the Peruvian Amazon!

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Our Wildlife Biology Field Training Program for 2023 is held at the Los Amigos Biological Station in Southeastern Peru. Participants are able to select from four specialty tracks⁣:

1.) Primate Monitoring and Behavior
2.) Biodiversity and Wildlife Health
3.) Animal Movement and Spatial Ecology
4.) Conservation Genetics

Participants work alongside experienced researchers and veterinary scientists to gain valuable field experience in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots in the Peruvian Amazon. This program is for aspiring biologists, anthropologists, veterinarians and others interested in biodiversity conservation, genomics, field research, and the One Health approach. Students assist with data collection for active research projects, with the possibility of continued involvement beyond the program’s end.

Our primate behavior program focuses on two free-ranging populations of Neotropical primates, the emperor and saddleback tamarin, at the Los Amigos Biological Field Station in Southeastern Peru. You would be joining an established primate research program, ongoing since 2009. The primary tasks in this position will be to:

Conduct daily behavioral follows of several focal groups, typically with one radio collared individual.
Scan sampling of behavior at fixed intervals.
Marking and collection of fruits from feeding trees.
Opportunistic collection of fecal samples.
Recording of spontaneous reproductive behaviors such as mating and scent marking.

Movement data collected will be associated with forest structure parameters acquired by high density lidar imaging. Feeding behavior data and samples will be incorporated into a study on natural seed dispersal. Social behavior will be used for a long-term dataset on cooperative breeding behavior.

NOTE: Applying for this program is now consolidated under the Wildlife Biology Training Program. Make sure to select the “Primate Specialty Track” in the application form.

2023 Course Description

The 5th Genomics in the Jungle field course will be held at the Los Amigos Biological Field Station in the Peruvian Amazon, and will focus on describing Neotropical biodiversity, metagenomics, and metagenomic target sequence enrichment. The program will include brief training and exercises in biological sample collection from select vertebrate taxonomic groups – typically including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and/or small mammals – as well as eDNA sampling from still water sources such as oxbow lakes, palm swamps and nearby clay-licks. Samples collected in the beginning of the program serve as a basis for carrying out a full genetics pipeline consisting of DNA isolation, clean-up and quality assessment, amplification, sequence library preparation, Nanopore sequencing, and basic bioinformatic analysis. The participant to instructor ratio for the program is kept low to provide personalized support to participants and to reflect a small research team dynamic. This program is ideal for students, faculty and young professionals that will be straddling both field and laboratory work environments, and who are expected to carry out their own data analysis. By conducting the program in a remote, hyper-diverse forest environment we are able transition between collection, laboratory, and analysis activities relatively seamlessly, resolving challenges associated with collection or lab work as they appear – as is typical in the field!

What’s it like to join us in the field?