Posts Tagged ‘Group IV’
Citizen Science Beginnings in a Sinharaja Restoration Plot
OSC students working under the guidance of Professor Nimal Gunatilleke, Dr. Suranjan Fernando and their teachers collect data on restoration and forest dynamics in a restored stretch of Sinharaja’s boundary forest planted with the non-native Pinus caribaea timber trees.
Sri Lanka’s ethereal Sinharaja rain forest, now more broadly understood as the Sinharaja Adiviya, has been a vital South Asian conservation success story, a magnet for ecotourists and a key location for the study of tropical rainforest dynamics. In recent years efforts to restore boundary areas that were earlier converted to non-native plantations have produced remarkable success. Last December I worked with Professor Nimal Gunatilleke and Dr. Suranjan Fernando to organize an effort to conduct citizen science with students from the Overseas School of Colombo. Our goal was to participate in the monitoring of the forest dynamics in restoration plots near the Kudawa entrance. The effort, although modest in scope, was designed to germinate and trial methods that could then be replicated by other groups of school students and interested citizens in the Sinharaja Adiviya.
Screenshot of the iNaturalist Sinharaja Biodiversity Observatory set up by the author for visiting student groups.
Sinharaja Adiviya boundary as seen in the Sinharaja Biodiversity Observatory page of the iNaturalist app.
Citizen Science in the International Baccalaureate Context
The Group IV project is an interdisciplinary project-based learning exercise that is a requirement for all Diploma (DP) science students to complete. Schools develop Group IV programs that allow candidates from the traditional science classes (Biology, Chemistry & Physics) to collaborate across disciplines to address a broad thematic question. At OSC, the interdisciplinary Environmental Systems and Societies (ES&S) class participates in this process (though it has not been a requirement). When the topic involves ecology and field work, ES&S students are expected to play a lead role. In past years OSC Group IV projects have focused on themes of tea, energy generation, urban wetlands and the OSC campus as a system. Group IV work is not formally assessed but students are required to participate and demonstrate collaboration that is evidenced in a final reflection. Thus, the focus is very much on the process rather than the product.
In the 2023-24 school year, the science department made several changes to how we conduct the Group IV project. We moved it into the traditional DP1 science field trip slot rather than have it at the end of the academic year. Secondly, we made a conscious move to design a program around Citizen Science in a way that the students would contribute to something more than an IB Diploma requirement. By good fortune, I was in touch with Professor Nimal Gunatilleke at the beginning of the school year and he was interested in getting students into the Sinharaja restoration plots to help monitor the forest dynamics and how contrasting areas were recovering. The proposed idea had a clear ecological focus but my colleagues in the department liked the idea of us all working to collect and contribute data to the effort.
SETTING THE SINHARAJA RESTORATION CONTEXT
The restoration plots that our group worked in are part of an important experiment in ecological restoration in “ever-wet” Mixed Dipterocarp Forest (MDF) that Professor Nimal Gunatilleke has been the key leader of. The plots are set in plantations of non-native Pinus caribaea that were planted on Sinharaja’s’ boundary 3-4 decades ago. Today there are still vast areas of non-native timber plantations that are awaiting restoration and the Sinharaja study was designed to test and model appropriate restoration methods. Around two decades ago key manager realized that the plantations were not producing the results originally envisioned and they (at least, initially) did not do much to support the area’s rich biodiversity. The restoration project involved thinning (rather than clear-cutting) plantations in strips and then planting key rainforest species that were appropriate from an ecological succession point-of-view. Experiments were conducted in different widths of strips (1-3 rows of pines removed) and manipulation (either no manipulation or some amount of it). Pioneer, rather than climax, species were initially planted as they would be more tolerant of the abiotic conditions in the cut strips (more light, less humidity etc.). These included “site generalist” and “restricted native” and “naturalized species of utility value.” The Pinus plantations are located in Sinharaja’s buffer zone where controlled extraction and harvests are permitted. The plants with economic value were specially designed to help get buy-in from neighboring residents.
The detailed story of the Sinharaja restoration plots has been recently published in a chapter of the book Ecological Restoration: Moving Forward Using Lessons Learned. See “Ecological Approaches to Forest Restoration: Lessons Learned from Tropical Wet Asia.” I created the maps for the Western Ghats and Sri Lankan case studies in this book but they are rather small in the final draft. I also highlight the key lessons in my October 2023 restoration article for Sanctuary Asia.
Sinharaja Adiviya restoration site map from the book Ecological Restoration: Moving Forward Using Lessons Learned (2023).
Professor Nimal Gunatilleke orients OSC students and teachers to the Sinharaja area and restoration site on the north-western Kudawa boundary.
GROUP IV FIELDWORK
We had a relatively large group including 35 DP1 students and five faculty members. Because of our size, we were spread between two different guest houses (Martin’s & the Blue Magpie Lodge). We spent our first afternoon getting oriented and doing a trial plot in the secondary forest near the REEC Center above Martin’s. Professor Gunatilleke and Dr. Suranjan led this and it was good to see the kids getting the hang of the steps despite some hungry leeches. The method of examining trees with a GBH of <1cm and between 1 and 5 cm GBH was challenging for our students to grasp but they put in a good effort. We had the Sinharaja guides working with each of our eight groups and they played a key role in identifying what was being recorded. The data was recorded on paper and also on the Survey 123 app that I had set up in Colombo based on the parameters established by our mentors.
A simplified flow diagram showing some of the key steps of the 2023 Group IV project in Sinharaja.
On our full day of data collection, we gathered the team at Martin’s and then hiked down to the restoration site. I’ve been walking by this site for many years and have been amazed and how it has changed such that it looks more like a rainforest than a plantation now (see attached historic pictures from earlier OSC studies). Nimal did a site briefing and then he and Suranjan assigned the groups to plots on the slop below the track leading to Martin’s from Kudawa village. Faculty members spread out with the groups, and we also got to work. Mechum Purnell, our secondary principal, moved between groups providing the lux readings using a Vernier probe. Science HOD, Robert LeBlanc ensured that the Chemistry aspects were being conducted properly (we measured nitrates and pH). Mohamed Haji, our new biology, teacher and I monitored several groups. Melinda Tondeur was on the road organizing a surprise birthday cake as a break after the second round of data had been collected. Tyler Echols ran back and forth to Martin’s to make sure that we had everything that was needed for the study. Each plot took about 30 minutes to study and the groups got better as they gathered more data. Unfortunately, we had to cut our day of fieldwork short when the skies opened up and it got wetter than our students were prepared for.
Notable plant species (and bracket fungi) from our time in Sinharaja.
Measuring canopy cover was an important part of the restoration study. We used the Canopeo app to get a quantitative assessment of the percentage cover of our plots. This image is taken on the old logging road leading to the research center.
WRAPPING UP
The rest of our time in Sinharaja was spent in class groups. The ES&S class spent quality time with Nimal and Savitri and got a personalized lecture on the story of Sinharaja and the efforts to restore the rainforest after the logging destruction of the 19760s and 70s. As per tradition, I planned a visit to Moulawella on our last morning. This short but physically challenging hike rewards you with a broad view over Sinharaja and the Kudawa area. I think that it is important for students to see the view, take in the grandeur and appreciate the work of past generations who worked so hard to protect this vital rainforest from destruction in the name of economic development.
Professor Gunatilleke gave a rich, illustrated presentation for the DP ES&S students and teachers in which he discussed Sinharaja’s history, its struggle for protection and subsequent years of being a site of key ecological studies.
The data that we gathered is satisfactory but it is clear that we need to do more training and preparation before the next field study. Using Survey 123 worked really well and we have all the raw data on an online database that can be shared. Working with the Sinharaja guides to identify the plants was crucial. Most students are not botanically inclined and switching gears to think about leaves, stems, GBH and plant diversity is challenging for them. Most of our students did not let that hold them back and willingly learned from our mentors and the Sinharaja guides. The ESS& students made a good attempt to record the biodiversity they saw and load it up onto iNaturalist (you can see their submissions under the Sinharaja Biodiversity Observatory). We are now looking forward to coming back later this year to continue the restoration studies in Sinharaja with the next cohort of OSC science students.
REFERENCES
Ashton, Mark et al. “Restoration pathways for rain forest in southwest Sri Lanka: A review of concepts and models.” Forest Ecology and Management 154(3):409-430. December 2001. Web.
Ashton, Mark et al. “Restoration of rain forest beneath pine plantations: A relay floristic model with special application to tropical South Asia.” Forest Ecology and Management 329:351–359. October 2014. Web.
Ashton, Peter and David Lee. Trees & Forest of Tropical Asia: Exploring Tapovan. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2022. Print.
Ecosystem Conservation and Management Project ESCAMP. Sinharaja Forest Range Landscape Management Plan 2022. Colombo: Sri Lanka Forest Department, 2022. Print.
Florentine, Singarayer et al Ed. Ecological Restoration: Moving Forward Using Lessons Learned. Springer, 2023. Print & Web. See “Ecological Approaches to Forest Restoration: Lessons Learned from Tropical Wet Asia” for the article edited by Nimal Gunatilleke. It includes key case studies from Sinharaja, the Knuckles and the Anamalais.
Gunatilleke, C.V.S, et al. Ecology of Sinharaja Rain Forest and the Forest Dynamics Plot in Sri Lanka’s Natural World Heritage Site. Colombo: WHT Publications, 2004. Print.
Gunatilleke, C.V.S. WNPS Monthly Lecture: Saving Sinharaja. 11 December 2022. YouTube Video.
Harlin, John et al. “Turning students into citizen scientists.” Citizen Science. October 2018. Print & Web via ResearchGate.
Lockwood, Ian. “Preliminary Analysis of Land Cover in the Sinharaja Adiviya using Planet Dove Imagery.” Ian Lockwood Blog. September 2019. Web.
Lockwood, Ian. “Rewilding What Has Always Been Wild: Sri Lankan Restoration Stories” Sanctuary Asia. October 2024. Web.
Pethiyagoda, Rohan and Hiranya Sudhasinghe. The ecology and biogeography of Sri Lanka: a context for freshwater fishes. WHT Publications, 2021. Print & Web.
“Restoring a rainforest: The WNPS effort with Diyakothakanda.” Sunday Times. 2 June 2021. Web.
“Report on visit to Diyakothakanda Forest Restoration Site on 16 April 2018.” WNPS Roar: Ecological Restoration.” 2018. Web.
Sinharaja Biodiversity Observatory. iNaturalist Project. Web.
