Project Staff: P. Vogel, B. Wilson
Postgraduate Student: Delano Lewis, Richard Nelson
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The Jamaican Iguana (Cyclura collei) occurs nowhere else than in Jamaica. It is critically endangered because of introduced predators and habitat destruction. |
The Jamaican Iguana Project is a collaborative effort of the University of the West Indies, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority, the Hope Zoo, and the Institute of Jamaica. The efforts are coordinated by the Jamaican Iguana Research and Conservation Group which includes representatives from these institutions. Various local, foreign and international organizations provide logistical and financial support to the Group including the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, the National Wildlife Foundation of Jamaica, the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, the West Indian Iguana Specialist Group, and the Zoological Gardens of Fort Worth and San Diego. The project includes a number of on-going components:
- Ecological field study of the Jamaican Iguana including distribution
across the Hellshire Hills, diet, and reproduction.
- Field monitoring of released headstarted iguanas using telemetry.
- Impact of exotic predators on the herpetofauna of the Hellshire
Hills, including experimental removal of these predators in selected
areas.
- Nutritional analysis of major food plants of the Jamaican Iguana
(in collaboration with Dr. Janet Dempsey, Project Leader).
- Impact of charcoal burning on vegetation structure and composition, and regeneration of disturbed forests (in collaboration with Dr. Kurt McLaren).