Peru, Honduras, Indonesia, South Africa, Madagascar, oh my! Despite their geographical distance, these countries have one thing in common: they are all destinations for biological conservation expeditions, where five University of Toronto student volunteers will be travelling in the summer of 2010.

The students will take part in expeditions organized by Operation Wallacea, an international conservation organization that runs biological and social science expeditions in various countries around the world, and works in wildlife conservation and the preservation of cultural heritage. The organization’s aims include everything from identifying locations that need protection to establishing and assessing conservation management programs.

At a typical research location, large teams of university academics conduct social, economic, and biodiversity studies with the help of volunteers. These expeditions allow participants to explore diverse environments and also offer the possibility for scientific discovery. Scientific surveys from a number of research locations have been published, reporting the discovery of numerous species. In fact, one “extinct” species was rediscovered on a Wallacea expedition. alt text

The five U of T volunteers definitely know what they’re in for. What’s more, they’re fundraising as a group to get there.

Despite being a few months away, the Operation Wallacea expeditions are fresh on the minds of Tricia Cruz, Shao-Peng Jin, Amber Liu, Melissa Gryphon, and Daniel Anstett. During interviews with each Operation Wallacea volunteer, I was taken all over the world figuratively, as they discussed their inspiration for joining the expedition, their excitement, trepidation, and why fundraising and conservation matter to them.

In an email interview with Tricia Cruz, a third-year student currently studying animal physiology and fine arts, she explained that part of her attraction to the Operation Wallacea expedition is that “you don’t have to be specifically studying science before you sign up. [It’s] a volunteer program for those that just want to help with conservation research.” When asked what she is most excited about experiencing, Cruz described her upcoming conservation expedition to Peru. “I’ll be staying on a boat day and night, studying dolphins and primates, catching caimans and frequently going on hikes in the Amazon forests. I mean, can that sound any more amazing?” The rest of Cruz’s fundraising group might beg to differ.

Shao-Peng Jin, a third-year ecology student, jumped right into discussing his Honduras expedition. He joined in order to expand his horizons: “I’ve never tried to go outside of Canada or Taiwan. I want to see what’s really going on with what I’m studying everywhere else in the world.” The Honduras expedition aims to produce data on the socioeconomics, forest structure, and biodiversity of the Cusuco Montane National Park. “Being a research assistant, I’m not only seeing [the forest], but learning some techniques we’ll be using in our research.”

Melissa Gryphon, a second-year zoology student, is heading to Madagascar in June because the Madagascar government has expanded its protected park areas from three to 10 per cent, and biodiversity research in those new areas needs further study. Gryphon says, “I’m excited to gain experience in the field that I want to pursue for the rest of my life: conservation.”

The excitement for Amber Liu, a second-year pharmacy student, in volunteering for her Indonesia expedition is in seeing nature: “it always awes me more than anything human-made.” Lui will undergo terrain training, get a chance to go diving, and learn about Indonesian culture. “You get to actually interact with the [local community] and learn a little bit of the language and see how they live.” For Lui, the biggest reward from this trip will be first-hand experiences in conservation.

Daniel Anstett, a student pursuing a specialist in evolutionary biology, has had the first-hand conservation experience Lui is looking for, as he was an Operation Wallacea volunteer in the summer of 2008 in Indonesia. During this time, the expedition aimed to find out more about Indonesia’s biodiversity. This led Anstett on a variety of scientific projects, including setting up and monitoring pitfall traps, finding tracks of wild pigs and monkeys, and encountering coral. For Anstett, the biggest eye-opener from this expedition was “[seeing] the most pristine [coral] areas and looking at the ones that have been almost completely degraded, and realizing that if something isn’t done within the next few years, those pristine ones are going to be all wrecked.”

This summer, Anstett plans to volunteer in South Africa. The allure for Anstett was “to actually feel more a part of [Operation Wallacea] and do a dissertation project and get a credit for my work.” Aside from the hard work involved in Anstett’s expedition, he is excited to see and photograph Africa’s “big five,” the elephant, lion, rhino, leopard, and buffalo. When asked what he is most afraid of, he confessed “getting eaten by a lion.”

Being devoured by a lion may be the least of these volunteers’ worries considering the cost of such an expedition. An Operation Wallacea volunteer can expect to shell out a minimum of $5,000 to cover the cost of field equipment, flights, insurance, and the expedition itself. What’s a starving student to do? Fundraise, of course. In order to raise as much money as they can to cover trip costs, these students are doing everything from approaching businesses for donations to holding large fundraising events.

Fundraising isn’t just about raising money and having a pint or two at a local pub. Cruz believes that it spreads awareness about worldwide conservation efforts, like that of Operation Wallacea, and is also a great way to learn about students working to help ecosystems in need.

According to Anstett, the conservation expedition experience is worth the effort. “You’ll see incredible things, unchecked diversity. To walk out in a particular environment and to just know you’re going to find something strange and amazing because the diversity is so high in that area—that’s an amazing feeling.”

For more information about Operation Wallacea, visit opwall.com. For more information about these five students’ Operation Wallacea fundraising efforts and how to make a donation, contact daniel_anstett@yahoo.ca.