Hispaniola Mammal Project

Hispaniola Mammal Project
Name	Hispaniola Mammal Project
Caption	Field team conducting bat surveys in a limestone karst area
Location	Hispaniola
Established	1990s
Founders	Conservation International, Smithsonian Institution
Focus	Mammalogy, biodiversity, conservation
Methods	Field surveys, mist-netting, acoustic monitoring, camera trapping

Hispaniola Mammal Project The Hispaniola Mammal Project was a coordinated research and conservation initiative focused on inventorying and studying terrestrial and volant mammals on the island of Hispaniola, encompassing the sovereign states of Dominican Republic and Haiti. It combined field surveys, taxonomic assessment, and community outreach to inform policy at institutions such as IUCN, BirdLife International, and national agencies like the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Dominican Republic). The project produced baseline data used by organizations including World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Background and Objectives

The project emerged amid global interest from actors such as United Nations Environment Programme, Global Environment Facility, and the MacArthur Foundation in Caribbean biodiversity hotspots like the Hispaniolan moist forest and Sierra de Bahoruco. Its objectives aligned with international agreements and programs represented by Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar Convention, and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund: to document species presence, clarify distribution for taxa associated with Neotropical biogeography, and assess threats linked to stakeholders including Agroforestry Research Network and local administrations of Parque Nacional Jaragua. Priorities included resolving taxonomic uncertainties for mammals described by authorities like Oldfield Thomas and taxa housed in collections at the American Museum of Natural History and Natural History Museum, London.

Methods and Fieldwork

Field teams employed standardized protocols adapted from methods developed at institutions such as American Society of Mammalogists, Bat Conservation International, and the Royal Ontario Museum. Techniques included mist-netting used by researchers influenced by E. Raymond Hall; harp-trapping informed by practices at University of Kansas Natural History Museum; passive acoustic monitoring with technology from companies supplying hardware to groups like Cornell Lab of Ornithology; camera trapping protocols popularized through collaborations with WCS and ZSL. Sampling took place across ecosystems including pine forests of Hispaniola, mangrove ecosystems, and karst systems near Lake Enriquillo and Massif de la Selle. Laboratory analyses incorporated morphometrics comparable to studies at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and genetic sequencing pipelines used at National Museum of Natural History (France), enabling comparisons with sequences deposited in databases curated by GenBank and curated by curators from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for allied projects.

Species Recorded and Findings

Surveys documented chiropterans, rodents, and insectivores previously known from classic catalogues by naturalists such as Mary Jane Rathbun and collectors associated with Alexander Wetmore. Notable records included range extensions for species recognized by the IUCN Red List and resolved taxonomic splits paralleling revisions at institutions like Museum of Comparative Zoology. The project clarified the status of endemic mammals linked to Hispaniolan endemic fauna studied alongside Hispaniolan solenodon specimens at the University of Florida collections, and provided new locality data for rodents comparable to specimens in the Field Museum of Natural History. Acoustic libraries and voucher specimens were cross-referenced with archives at Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and audio repositories maintained by Macaulay Library. Field notes informed species accounts used by compendia such as the Handbook of the Mammals of the World and regional checklists produced by Caribbean Biodiversity Program.

Conservation Outcomes and Recommendations

Results were integrated into conservation planning by agencies including IUCN, UNESCO for Bien de Interés Cultural-type nominations, and national ministries in Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. Recommendations emphasized habitat protection in landscapes overlapping with protected areas like Parque Nacional Los Haitises and Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco and urged policy alignment with programs supported by USAID and European Union funding instruments. The project advocated species action plans consistent with frameworks from Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and recommended community-based conservation models used by partners such as The Nature Conservancy and Fauna & Flora International.

Collaborations and Funding

Collaborators included academic departments at University of Puerto Rico, University of Miami, University of Havana, and museums such as the American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and Royal Ontario Museum. International NGO partners included Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, Bat Conservation International, and Fauna & Flora International. Funding sources included grants from the MacArthur Foundation, National Science Foundation, and project support from the Global Environment Facility and bilateral aid channels administered by USAID and the European Commission.

Legacy and Ongoing Research

The project's legacy persists through specimen deposits in collections at institutions like the Natural History Museum, London and datasets incorporated into global biodiversity platforms such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility and IUCN Red List assessments. Ongoing research draws on methodologies established by the project and continues through collaborations with universities including University of California, Berkeley and networks such as the Caribbean Bat Network. Its outputs inform conservation prioritization in Caribbean policy fora like meetings of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and continue to be cited in taxonomic revisions and ecological syntheses published in journals associated with publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature.

Category:Biological surveys Category:Mammalogy Category:Conservation projects