SOPHIA L. RAITHEL
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Research & Field Updates
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07.2019 : Presented the results from my master's thesis at the International Congress for Conservation Biology in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia #ICCB2019
01.2019 : Returned back from a successful 3 month field season on Bioko Island!
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10.2018 : Received official notice that I was awarded $5K by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Conservation Fund for my research on Red colobus!
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Past and Current Projects
Expanding continuous monitoring efforts for Bioko Island's threatened primate community
In 2018-2019 I worked with Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program to expand monitoring efforts of primate groups in the remote southern forests of the Gran Caldera Scientific Reserve. These studies served to help to understand how hunting is impacting primate populations as well as ground truth current habitat suitability models used for conservation protection policies set by the wildlife authority of Equatorial Guinea.
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Improving habitat suitability models for primates on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea
I am creating species distribution models for 7 diurnal primates on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea using BIOMOD2, an ensemble modeling software, to analyze 10 years of presence locations to understand distribution and relative population estimates. This data can also help inform how hunting may be influencing the biotic interactions of the primate community.
Past Research
COMMUNITY DIVERSITY OF ARTHROPODS
I designed and set up pit fall trap controla nd test plots to observe the non target effects of a novel method to control lyme disease using Metarhizium anisopliae, a naturall occureing soil fungus.
LYME DISEASE AND SMALL MAMMALS
As a research assistant, for the Cary Insitute Tick Project, I assisted in trapping small mammals and dragging for ticks in backyards to understand lyme disease prevalency and community dynamics.
CAMERA TRAPPING IN NAM KAN NPP, LAOS
Our team set up the first baseline camera traps as a study to document the terrestrial mammal biodiversity in Nam Kan NPP. I led a team to monitor 11 camera traps, set up in remote locations biased on tracks, scat, water sources, and salt licks.