Area of Study: Cock of the rock

The Machu Picchu National Park is home to the world famous archeological ruins. Surrounding that sacred site are the Andean cloud forests. Cloud forests are high altitude rainforests characterized by their high levels of precipitation and epiphytic plants. The Andean cloud forest is of particular importance as it is one of the least studied and least understood ecosystems, and one of the most significant places in the world with regards to biological diversity and endemic species. In this project, we travel to the Machu Picchu National Park to explore this fragile ecosystem and learn more about the species that live and grow in them, including Peru’s national bird, the Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus). We discover the threats to this ecosystem and meet an organisation who are working hard to combat these threats. Finally, we look at what more could be done to protect this environment into the future. Alex is a Zoology graduate working in the field of woodland conservation and citizen science. She has a passion for community-led environmental action, connection to nature, creative communication and ecological research. She is the trustee of an environmental education charity called Andover Trees United, where she has set up a wildlife monitoring and citizen science programme, habitat creation projects, and a Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots affiliated youth group. At this youth group, she trains young people in woodland ecology and conservation and supports them to carry out their own mini research projects and gain new qualifications. For her day to day work, Alex is a Citizen Science Assistant at the UK’s largest woodland charity, The Woodland Trust, where she works on projects in tree health and phenology. During her degree at the University of Exeter, Alex specialised in insect ecology, and since graduating she has also carried out a scientific research project on the impacts of climate change on the Small Heath butterfly (Coenonympha pamphilus).