Program Background

Long-term data on animal pathogens and parasites, as well as their health, are indicators of population and community wellbeing. Animal extractions from the wild, or changes to habitat or climate, can be reflected in metrics such as parasite/pathogen richness (unique number of species) or diversity (evenness of species distributions), and parameters such as animal weight or complete blood counts. In conjunction with our mark and recapture research programs, we have been safely collecting a variety of sample types for microscopic and molecular laboratory analysis to monitor wildlife disease and health since 2012 (see our publications page). These prior efforts have never seemed more important than they are today, as the world works toward overcoming a global pandemic. Only through longterm sampling programs can we tackle questions such as:

1. Is parasite species diversity changing and how fast?
2. To what extent are pathogens/parasites shared across multiple host species (e.g. in addition to bats, do monkeys, rodents, or marsupials harbor natural coronavirus infection)?
3. Which parasite/pathogens impact animal health?
4. Which humans diseases pose a risk to wildlife, and vice versa?

All of our research methods have been carefully practiced and refined by our senior scientists, and several wildlife veterinarians with whom we collaborate. Sampling protocols are comprehensive but put the comfort and safety of the animals above our own. For example, to ensure the maximum safety of the animals, we conduct all processing in the jungle, at the screening site. We limit the number of animals we screen each day. We begin each day very early, setting up our processing tents before dawn and closing them at an appropriate time to ensure that no animal is held overnight or for an entire day, depending on whether the animal is nocturnal or diurnal. Thus, we cause as minimal a disruption of their lives as is possible. Samples from this program are analyzed on site and at partner laboratories in the USA and Peru using microscopy and molecular techniques. Further on site training in field molecular genetics may be possible for participants.

High biosecurity standards and animal handling and sampling protocols are sanctioned by the Amazon Conservation Association, the Animal Care Committee of Washington University in St. Louis, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Perú.

Program Goals

Our ongoing disease and health surveillance efforts will continue to focus on primates, bats, small to medium-size terrestrial mammals, and birds. Our interest in blood, gastrointestinal, and ectoparasites continues as well, as baseline data acquired from prior seasons provide our best measures of ecological change. Hosting multiple concomitant parasite/pathogen infections is the norm for wildlife, so we are monitoring for statistically significant changes in prevalence, richness, or abundance of infections.

However, there are some important changes for this program beginning in 2021. First, we are shifting from transporting samples away from the collection site toward bringing the lab to the samples. There are enormous advantages to this, some of which you can read about here. Second, we will rely more heavily on the use of genetic techniques for detection and classification of parasites and pathogens. Genetic methods have emerged as the most efficient, reliable, and now cost effective way of screening samples, and providing training opportunities in molecular research, especially where infrastructure is lacking is a core part of FPI’s educational programs. Third, bacterial pathogen and RNA virus discovery will be added to our surveillance efforts, which will be highly informative to wildlife biologists, conservationists, and human health professionals in the Amazon region and worldwide.

Finally, this year we begin to incorporate ecotoxicology into the research program. In the Madre de Dios department of Peru, where the Los Amigos Conservation Hub is located, the extent of gold mining increased by almost ten times between 1993 and 2013. As a result, mercury (an element commonly used to extract gold) is accumulating in the environment and its human and wildlife inhabitants at an extraordinary rate. Mercury accumulation is associated with neurological and reproductive dysfunction, and is noted to induce lasting, sometimes generational, epigenetic changes, and the full extent of harm it may be causing to the Amazon remains elusive. In 2021 we will begin analyzing all noninvasive tissues collected for methylmercury content, and especially look forward to achieving the analysis in the field where data can be put to immediate use.

Skills and Training

• Best practices for personal safety and wellbeing while conducting field work in forest systems
• Forest navigation, including off-trail with portable GPS devices
• Non-invasive sample collection
• Animal tracking and safe capture-release techniques
• Safe animal handling procedure focused on bats, small mammals, and birds, including a number of opportunities to participate directly in collection events
• Sample collection, handling, labeling, and storage protocols, including the use of sterile technique to prevent self-contamination and preserve specimen integrity
• Animal health data collection and data management
• Sample processing and analysis for parasites/pathogens, environmental toxins, and animal health parameters (contingent on timing, please inquire for specifics)
• Field genetics (DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, nanopore-based amplicon sequencing)
• Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) testing
• Methymercury testing
• Neopterin testing
• Microscopy

We take great pride in being able to provide high quality research and training experiences to a diverse student body. The following list is not exhaustive and is intended to give a sense of the backgrounds of participants that have found great value in this program.

• One Health professionals or trainees
• Veterinarians, pre-veterinary students, veterinary technicians
• Public health students and professionals
• Individuals interested in ecological research

We are currently recruiting participants with the following requirements. If you are uncertain if you are eligible, don’t rule out the program – please contact us to confirm first!

Minimum Requirements:

• You must be at least 18 years of age by the time the training program begins (no upper age-limit)
• A letter of recommendation from a source that can substantiate the participant’s experience and skills
• A vaccine to COVID-19 (see FAQ below for details)
• Participants must be in good physical condition, with the capability to walk 4 miles a day
• Due to the nature of the work and weather constraints, participants must be willing to be flexible about their weekly and daily schedules

Preferred Skills:

• Ideal participants will be Biology majors, have taken anatomy- and morphology-based courses, and/or demonstrate a strong interest in natural history.
• Previous field experience is not required, but previous laboratory research experience is a plus
• Participants will not be discriminated against for medical conditions they might have, if we determine that being on this project will not pose an immediate risk to their health
• Participants must be willing to maintain long hours in the field, and return to complete data entry in the evenings.
• Sometimes we wait and are unsuccessful – this is the nature of the work. Participants must demonstrate patience
• Participants must be reliable – when a team is assigned to work with a group of animals, days of planning go into the execution of the protocol. Carelessness and tardiness on the part of the participant could jeopardize the entire project.
• Participants must exhibit a willingness to adjust your schedule to animal activity patterns. This can require waking up early, sometimes by 4 or 5 am, and going to bed early, 8 or 9 pm.

The principal investigator for our Wildlife Health program is Dr. Gideon Erkenswick. He is an infectious disease specialist at Washington University in Saint Louis and co-founder of Field Projects International. Apart from his role in co-developing our longitudinal tamarin mark-recapture program and pursuing various other research interests, since 2012 he has focused on investigating the disease ecology of wildlife communities in the Southeastern Peru Amazon.