Investigating the solutions that support Colombian Amazon bird biodiversity
Every summer, Cornell graduate students travel the globe to conduct field research. This is the second story in a series about graduate student summer field work. Charlie Tebbutt is a doctoral student in natural resources and the environment whose summer research focused on the effects of land use on bird biodiversity in the Amazon in Guaviare and Caquetá, Colombia.
Describe the location of your summer research.
We are carrying out research in the departments of Guaviare and Caquetá in the Colombian Amazon. After long periods of displacement and land insecurity driven by violent conflict, the land use dynamics of these regions have shifted following the 2016 peace process between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). As historical and ongoing forest clearance replaces Amazonian rainforest with cattle ranches, we are investigating solutions offered by local rubber-growing cooperatives.
What’s the focus of your research?
We want to compare the effects of different land uses on bird biodiversity in the Colombian Amazon. To do so, first-year undergraduate student Dhruv Varun Cohen ’26 and I are installing SWIFTOne sound recorders across forests, rubber plantations and cattle ranches. The next step is working with our Colombian collaborator, Maria Elisa Mendiwelso Moreno, to identify and validate which species are being recognized by the Lab of Ornithology’s AI BirdNET software.
As historical and ongoing forest clearance replaces Amazonian rainforest with cattle ranches, we are investigating solutions offered by local rubber-growing cooperatives.
What do you hope will be the impact of this work?
The project’s aim is to support the incredible work that artisanal rubber producers ASOPROCAUCHO and ASOHECA are doing to promote forest and biodiversity conservation in Colombian Amazonia. Our preliminary data suggests that Guaviare’s rubber plantations support numerous rainforest species such as the charismatic red-bellied macaw, the bejeweled green-backed trogon and the cryptic tinamou. By demonstrating the co-benefits that rubber-growers deliver for biodiversity, we hope that ethical consumers will consider paying more for artisanal Colombian rubber.
How will summer research advance your understanding of your research in a way that classes or theory does not?
Cornell offers excellent classes in all of the skills that we’re employing on the project, from tropical field ornithology to conservation bioacoustics. These courses build wonderful foundations for research, but working in a region as biodiverse as Colombian Amazonia requires close collaboration with local experts. Carrying out research with Guaviare ornithologists Wilmer Ramírez and Diana Lucena Gavilán has enabled us to identify hundreds of species within days and, crucially, to learn some of their songs!
What has surprised you about your experience?
My research in the Colombian Amazon has always come with plenty of surprises. This time I am excited to include sightings of a harpy eagle, giant anteater and Amazon river dolphins. Something which I should be used to but which never ceases to amaze me is the ease with which my ASOPROCAUCHO colleagues, such as rubber-grower Don Seledonio Rincón and his son, Cele, traverse forests and rivers, while Dhruv and I can barely keep pace.
How did Cornell programs and/or faculty mentors help connect you with the opportunity to carry out summer research abroad?
My committee is made up of Cornell academics Shorna Allred, Steve Morreale, Laurel Symes, and Mario Herrero, as well as Ismael Dussan from Colombia’s National Open and Distance University. Everyone offers a unique set of expertise, including community-based research approaches, geographic information systems, bioacoustics, tropical agriculture and rubber agroforestry. I’ve been grateful to see everyone accommodate bilingual English-Spanish meetings and to support recruitment of Colombian experts to the project.
What would you say to students considering applying to Cornell for grad school?
There is nothing like pursuing your dream Ph.D. project. I have always submitted ambitious proposals that I would love to carry out; a strong committee can help tweak and develop the finer details later on, but the passion must be there from the beginning. This proposal also builds on former collaborations with ECOLMOD at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia; it’s vital to know who’s already working in the field and hopefully even partner with them!
