How curiosity led to an extraordinary discovery- The Rikuna Project
The purpose of this document is to provide a brief story of the adventure that led to the Rikuna project's creation and an extraordinary discovery. Here I am going to talk about the history of the project, the expeditions, the sections of the project, and how I see the future for Rikuna.
The Rikuna Project is an Ecuadorian project created with two main purposes scientific research in the Amazon region of Ecuador and divulgation of the generated knowledge to the local communities.
History
It started by chance, as the best stories start. Those stories for which it is difficult to find an exact beginning and where you still doubt if they have finished.
In February 2017, I was performing some experiments for my Physics research in my residence. It was 2:00 am, everything was silent and the air was freezing. The environmental conditions for such experiments were not favourable since I lived in the highlands of Ecuador. Then, an idea invaded my mind (maybe due to the lack of sleep), a trip to lower lands, such as the Amazon region of the country. This region presented the perfect conditions to test my invention. The following week I was on my way to the city of Tena. In my hotel, I run some experiments and after being the subject of prying eyes from various locals, the device I was testing was barely working. After that disappointment, I rested until the next morning. Since I had not achieved my goal of that trip, I decided I would visit some interesting places in the area. After talking with some locals, I ended up in the Uctu Iji Changa caves in the territory of the indigenous community Tamia Yura.
That was my first expedition to the caves (actually it was the first time I visited a cave), but the things I observed there were not easy to erase from my mind. I knew there was a lot to explore and learn. The following month, when my semester at Yachay Tech University started, I talked with the Dean of the Geology School, Prof. Paul Arellano and we decided to plan the second expedition.
I contacted a group of students, Julián Escobar, Mateo Oleas and Paula Ayala, together with Prof. Arellano, we decided to found the Rikuna Project. Rikuna means “to observe” in the native indigenous language kiwcha and it was born as a research project with the commitment to share all the science with the local communities. The plan for this expedition was to measure the cave and study its stalactites, stalagmites, and fossils. We prepare all the equipment and methodologies. Later, Prof. German Martin, MSc. Miguel Larrea and students Carlos Mendoza, Anthony Vizcaino, Pamela Andrade, and Lenin Riera joined the expedition.
We started our journey in December of 2017. We arrived early in the morning and we visited a local university, Ikiam to try to collect as much information as we could from the cave. The next day, we entered the cave early in the morning and we left almost at midnight. We found ourselves in total darkness except for the light of our flashlights, while listening to the bats above us and carefully walking trying not to touch the whip spiders in the walls of the cave. We accomplished our goal, we measured the cave, and we collected data on the geological interesting formations and fossil samples. However, the most interesting of all, was a rock with an ovoid shape founded by the indigenous leader Carlos Cerda, Mateo, and me. Later, we identified it as a dinosaur jaw. After comparing the teeth with a dinosaur database I suspected it was a Mosasaur, which was later confirmed by the Paleontologist Dr. Edwin Cadena.
After the discovery, the Rikuna members cleaned the fossil and continued with the research. It was a long journey that included other several expeditions and a lot of work with the community that I will try to detail in the following chapters.
Research
The research component has been focused on two main research projects. First the formal study of the Uctu Iji Changa cavern, including its dimensions, map and identification of stalagmites and stalactites. Second, is the study of the Mosasaur found during the first expedition. Until that moment no one had reported a cretaceous reptile in the country. This last section included the identification and cleaning of the fossil, as well as the preparation of a scientific article with all the results of the research. In this article participated researchers and students of Yachay Tech University, the National Polytechnic School (EPN) and the Polytechnic School of the Litoral (ESPOL).
In Addition, the Rikuna research also inspired other research projects of students and professors of Yachay Tech University, including the application of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) technique to characterize the Uctu Iji Changa cave.
Knowledge Divulgation and Work With the Community
The work of the community was focused in two main aspects:
- Science Divulgation: During the history of Ecuador, most of the scientific research was performed by foreign scientists and most of the knowledge generated was not published in Spanish or the local languages. As a consequence, local communities (especially indigenous people) never had access to this knowledge and were historically excluded from scientific research. The Rikuna project tries to remedy this problem in the Amazon indigenous communities by sharing important information and research results that can be used to improve their life as well as for tourism purposes.
- Eco-Tourism: The main economical activity of many of the Amazon indigenous communities is tourism. However, the lack of formal education and access to knowledge has led to an important environmental impact as a result of these activities. The Rikuna project detected that when local communities were tough about their negative impact on the environment and best practices to minimize the environmental impact of turism, they changed and adapted their practices to improve.
To accomplish these two previous goals, the Rikuna project prepared posters, presentations, reports and events. This work was mainly done with the amazon indigenous community Tamia Yura and their female leaders. In addition, we created an App that contained all the information so they can use on a Raspberry Pi-based computer we installed in the community (since there is no internet access there).
Funding
The funding for the research and the work from the community came mainly from Yachay Tech funds approved by the rector at that moment: Dr. C. Castillo-Chavez, the SUSI-minigrants of the US Department of States and private generous donations (Edwin Cadena, Hospital San Vicente de Paúl de Ibarra, Centro Turístico Tamia Yura).
As an undergraduate student, I understand it can be very challenging to attract funds for a research project. However, how do I manage to convince people to give me money for research and activities for the community? I think the answer relies on two main ideas. First, I did not do it alone, there were several brilliant students volunteering for the project and professors that believe that ideas can change our society. If Dr. Castillo had not trusted my ideas from the beginning and Dr. Arellano had not constantly supported the project, none of this would have been possible. The other key aspect was the social impact the Rikuna project proposed. We cannot continue to accumulate books in libraries for a select group of experts to read. People outside the academia should be able to access all the knowledge that we scientists generate in order to improve their quality of life.
Future Perspectives
Rikuna’s story is not over! Now several students, including Ruben Chusin (ruben.chusin(at)yachaytech.edu.ec), representative of the Yachay Tech Geology Club is helping Rikuna to continue working on research and for the community! I am also trying to convert Rikuna in a Foundation and keep working to spread Science in Ecuador.
Support
If you want to support us, you can use the link below (do not forget to specify which project you want to support!).
You can also learn more about other projects here.
