#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.
Today I present Amrita Neelakantan. Her research looks at the affects of habitat change on animals.
Tell us about yourself, where you are from, and where you see yourself going.
I’m from India and read all the books on natural history Gerald Durrell wrote one summer after which I decided to be a conservationist. I’ve been slowly mapping my way to work in beautiful tropical forests since then – in Ecuador, Kenya, Madagascar and back home.
How did you get involved in your research project?
When asked to think of and approach supervisors for my dissertation project I met a bunch of wonderful people who collectively pointed me in the direction of secondary growth valuations – I’ve been hooked ever since. My first project in Ecuador was also in a beautiful cloud forest which I walked for 3 months, day and night, fueling my addiction to see these places remain.
Why is your research important to you? Why should others fund it?
My project allows me to follow a childhood dream and be an explorer in the wilderness where even after all these years there’s stuff new to science! Also I’ve worked with reptiles and frogs for 4 years now making it impossible to not care what happens to them and their forests.
Tropical forests are the lungs of our planet, the houses of our rain to feed freshwater stock, controllers of weather patterns, homes to rich and ancient cultures and beings. A forest is worth colossally more than the economic value of standing timber. This is why people should fund my research, because I’m increasing our knowledge of these values and challenging our current valuations of forests.
Do you have a favorite story that came from working on your research project?
On my 21st birthday, I was conducting my first independent research project and I spent the day thus:
I got up to machete a path I would walk for the next 3 months. I walked through a bush to find my hair swarming with bees and at the next level spot, I emptied my drinking water on my head to get rid of them knowing I’d spend the next 4 hours dehydrating in the humid afternoon forest. I chopped an epiphyte (a plant that grows on a tree) to find a snake fell on me who, although was not venomous, emitted an oily residue (that remained on my skin for a while) that makes you throw up (so the snake then escapes).
I returned back to the research station to make a special lunch of corn and meat stew which turned out to be like stones + leather and wholly un-edible. Then I started the evening survey in the pouring rain and got lost in lacerating 6ft tall discarded pasture, and fell into a hole (I have no idea why a pasture would have a freshly dug person sized hole). After climbing out of the hole I find my walkie-talkie doesn’t work in rain and on the other side of the hill. I also realized I had been walking in circles because there is flattened grass ahead of me.
Walking off any recognizable path uphill to find the nearest road I routed back to the research station having to abandon my night survey altogether. My field assistant returned an hour later covered in mud as he had made it to his survey site and proceeded
to lunge after every frog he saw on his walk in the night on a hill in a forest. He made me tea and we had biscuits just before midnight. I’ve never had a more exciting birthday before that or since.
Why did you decide to participate in the SciFund Challenge?
Because it is SO exciting to be able to tell people about research and involve them in research that I am passionate about. It’s FUN! and makes these funds
very meaningful.
What was the most difficult aspect of building your SciFund Proposal? What was your favorite?
The video was the most difficult and my favourite. I have never made one before and although mine is largely a slideshow with a voice over it took many tries and a lot of friends to finally get near what I wanted to say and show.
Tell us something random. Something funny. Something borrowed. Something blue.
“Strawberry ice-cream tastes of pink. The colour of death is blood.” (This is a quote from a friend of mine – A Sammie)
Thanks for sharing your science Amrita! And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here.