Danau Girang Field Centre
Location
Danau Girang Field Centre is a collaborative research and training facility managed by Cardiff University and Sabah Wildlife Department.
It is situated in Lot 6 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia and is surrounded by a mixture of lowland dipterocarp forest types, ranging from primary forest to disturbed secondary forest, in a matrix landscape with significant human impact including villages, small scale agriculture and oil palm plantations.
The forest is divided into 10 lots, comprising fragmented sections of forest of varying sizes, bisected by the Kinabatangan river. It is thus an ideal location to study wildlife and the effects of anthropogenic habitat alteration on biodiversity.
Research
Research on the genetics and demographics of the Sanctuary’s mammal species has been ongoing, mainly in collaboration with the NGO
HUTAN since 1999. Studies on the ecology and genetics of the orang-utan, Bornean elephant, proboscis monkey and long-tailed macaque are ongoing, involving Cardiff University, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, HUTAN, WWF Malaysia and other collaborators (Ancrenaz et al. 2004, 2005; Goossens et al. 2005, 2006a,b) yet much remains to be done and studies on the avifauna, herpetofauna, invertebrates and plants are surprisingly few. Examples of current research includes work on the elephant population (an endemic subspecies) and adaptive genetic variation in the primates of the Sanctuary but many opportunities exist for MSc, PhD and other projects within the sanctuary, subject to governmental and Danau Girang Field Centre Scientific Committee approval.
Teaching
The centre provides facilities for field courses for the higher education sector, from overseas and within the Asia-Pacific region including Malaysia. Training in biodiversity assessment methods for trees, invertebrates (especially Lepidoptera and Coleoptera), reptiles and amphibians, birds (including ringing) and mammals (observation and tracking for both diurnal and nocturnal species) is available by arrangement. The facilities include a basic laboratory, a fully internet-linked computer laboratory, a lecture room and a library (see 'Facilities'). It is our intention that courses, wherever possible, contribute to and benefit from the monitoring efforts that are carried out in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, such that the students themselves can learn biodiversity assessment and monitoring while contributing to the long-term data that are important for understanding the dynamics and stability of fragmented forests in this region.
The capacity of the centre for field courses is between 20 and 25 students.
Professional Training Year (PTY)
An attractive feature of our degrees is that most of them can be taken as 4-year sandwich courses in which the third year is spent away from the University in a relevant placement. A placement report, written by the student, will count towards the final degree assessment. The Centre's two current PTY students are working on a project with the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project, as well as helping to maintain the trails at Danau Girang, learning about the local biodiversity and way of life and witnessing the progression of active conservation work throughout the year.