Dutch herpetologist at REGUA

Masters student Hidde de Graff enrolled at University of Amsterdam has come to stay for three months at REGUA studying amphibians.    Professor Wouter Halfwerk organised Hidde’s stay here with Brazilian Dr. Mauricio Almeida and he has been conscientiously at work in the field.

Hidde in the Forest (© Raquel Locke)

Hidde is been analysing sound tracks from deliberately located microphones recording night sounds in forest fragments as a way to detect and identify the amphibian species present.    Every quarter of an hour those frogs calling will be recorded and later as he studies the sonograms, he will be able to identify the species present.

Dr Mauricio carried out a similar survey a few years ago and Hidde will be able to compare the results and see if there has been any species change and evaluate how accurate his findings are in terms of species identification.