FT 13: A Walk Through the Wilderness of Wayqecha Biological Station in the Peruvian Cloud Forest

Thursday, August 5, 2021

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Pacific

Session Organizer(s)

Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya

Osa Conservation
Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Volunteer(s)

Shih-Huai Cheng

Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

Session Co-organizers: Judith Westveer, Conservación Amazónica - ACCA, Puerto Maldonado, Peru
Trip Itinerary: - We will start with a 360 degrees overview of the field station and its facilities, such as a laboratory, dormitory and camp ground.
- Next we will show you a supercut of our latest expedition in the Andean highlands to find the endangered Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus). The expedition started in Wayqecha Biological Station and was set out to place camera traps in one of the largest elevation surveys transects to gather a greater understanding of the seasonal difference in landscape use by the bear – between habitats from lowland rainforest to the Andean Puna grassland (800 – 3700 masl).
- A third stop is made at our 500meter long orchid trail, with over a 100 species of orchids. We will guide you along this trail and explain a bit about the ecology and cultural value of these Andean orchids.
- Next we take you to our canopy walkway, which hangs about 50meters above the ground between trees with stunning bromeliads and other epiphytes. Not for the faint of heart!
- We will guide you through the research projects that are taking place in and around our field station and tell you how these projects aid the protecting and conservation of this ecosystem on the eastern slope of the Andes.

This Virtual Field Trip will take you to the Peruvian Cloud Forest, where Wayqecha Biological Station is located(2500-3400 m.a.s.l.): one of the world’s highest field stations and best sites to explore the lush cloud and elfin forest ecosystem bordering Manu National Park. Situated where the eastern slopes of the Andes meet the Amazon lowlands, the cloud forest absorbs moisture from passing clouds and is often blanketed in mist and fog. We will virtually take you to see where the Andean grasslands transition into lush cloud forests and montane forests below.
We will take participants to great heights: a walk across the 50m heigh canopy walkway where all trees are seen from above, exposing their beautiful epiphytes from a different angle, we will show a recap of an expedition through the Andean Highlands in a quest to find the endangered Spectacled Bear, to a tour of our stunning orchid trail with orchids that live only at these high altitudes.
This trip will show you what it's like to perform research and field expeditions at such high altitudes, where oxygen is limited and UV-radiation is fierce. The virtual field trip will be filled with orchids, bromeliads, hummingbirds and spectacled bears, which play the lead role in the stunning ecosystem around Wayqecha Biological Station.
More info on the station and the managing NGO Conservación Amazónica - ACCA can be found here: Wayqecha Cloud Forest Biological Station