Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet
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BIODIVERSITY AND<br />
CONSERVATION<br />
Brian Mhando ’26<br />
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY<br />
Certificates: African American Studies, Global<br />
Health and Health Policy<br />
PROJECT TITLE<br />
Understanding<br />
Biodiversity Loss in Large<br />
Tropical Forest Fragments<br />
ORGANIZATION(S)<br />
Wilcove Lab,<br />
Department of Ecology<br />
and Evolutionary Biology,<br />
Princeton University<br />
LOCATION(S)<br />
Mato Grosso, Brazil<br />
MENTOR(S)<br />
David Wilcove,<br />
Professor of Ecology and<br />
Evolutionary Biology and<br />
Public Affairs and the<br />
High Meadows<br />
<strong>Environmental</strong> Institute;<br />
Alex Wiebe, Ph.D.<br />
candidate, Ecology and<br />
Evolutionary Biology<br />
I analyzed the impact of habitat fragmentation<br />
on bird populations in the Amazon rainforest.<br />
Over the past few years, huge tracts of land<br />
have been deforested for farm use, leaving the<br />
current landscape of the southern Amazon<br />
unrecognizable. In the field, I worked alongside<br />
doctoral candidate Alex Wiebe to conduct bird<br />
point counts each morning, and in doing so I<br />
learned how to identify some species of birds by<br />
sight and sound. I also collected environmental<br />
data by conducting understory tree surveys in<br />
eight meter transects. This project has helped me<br />
better understand the importance of understory<br />
and canopy trees for maintaining biodiversity<br />
in bird populations. What intrigued me the most<br />
were the possible political causes of biodiversity<br />
loss, such as the international demand for more<br />
farmland. Participating in this project has<br />
made me consider more career paths that bridge<br />
ecological concerns with public policy advocacy.<br />
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