The Royal Scottish Geographical Society

University of Aberdeen - Kinabalu, Malaysia
Four third-year students of Tropical Environmental Science join three Malaysian students in a study of pitcher plants and insectivorous bats endemic to Mt Kinabalu, south-east Asia's highest peak.   In addition to generating baseline ecological data on endangered spieces, the team hopes to initiate and sustain a bat-monitoring group in Sabah.

University of Aberdeen - Sepilok 2001, Malaysia
Students from the University of Aberdeen team-up with Malaysian students to study nutrient-cycling in three different types of forest in the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve in northern Borneo.   In addition to strengthening links between Aberdeen and Malaysia, and increasing awareness of rainforest systens, the team will contribute to the international research programme Biotic Interactions in Tropical Rain Forests (BITRF).

University of Edinburgh - EUCARE Madagascar 2001
A ten-strong team of students and research fellows working with Malagasy associates spend 8 weeks mapping uncharted coral reefs in the Baie de Sainte-Luce, south-east Madagascar, with a view to assessing biodiversity and human impact.   The Edinburgh University Coral Awareness and Research Expedition, led by Alasdair Harris, will contribute data to the International Coral Reef Initiative.

University of Edinburgh - Mexico 2001
Nicola Gammans, a third-year Ecology student, travels with two fellow-undergraduates to Los Tuxtlas in the state of Veracruz to study the unusual symbiotic relationship between ants and plants.

University of Edinburgh - Mozambique Reef
Four students accompanied by a senior reef specialist join three students from the Universidade de Eduardo Mondlane in a study which will contribute baseline scientific data to the Coral Reef Management Programme in Mozambique.   During 11 weeks in the field the team will focus on disturbance to the coral reef caused by coral bleaching, Crown-of-Thorns starfish, and other natural or human-induced phenomena.

University of Edinburgh - Project Anuran Phase II, Belize
A second year in the field studying amphibians takes Toby Gardner and his team of researchers back to Las Cuevas in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, Belize.   Their study of frog populations at a number of wet-season breeding ponds will provide more data on the status and ecology of species identified in Phase I.

University of Edinburgh - Project Chamaeleonidae
Four students led by Rosanne Lord join two students from the University of Antananarivo in an 8-week study of chameleon species within the Ambodiriana Forest Reserve on the north-east coast of Madagascar.

University of Glasgow - Brazil 2001
A team of 15 students and staff led by Dr Kevin Murphy and Dr Gordon Dickinson collaborate with staff and students of the University of Maringa and staff of the State of Parana Environmental Protection Agency in fieldwork which will be based on the banks of the Parana River in southern Brazil.   The object of the study is to gather data on biodiversity and land-use interactions in the floodplain of the Upper Rio Parana, which will contribute to a Habitat Action Plan for the floodplain three years after the completion of the Porto Primavera Dam.

University of Glasgow - Yungas 2001, Bolivia
Ross Macleod leads a 13-strong team of Bolivian and British students, including three from Glasgow, on an expedition which will carry-out the first assessment of the ecology and biodiversity of the previously-unexplored yungas forests of the Cordillera de Mostenes, near Cochabamba in Bolivia.   They will focus on the relationships between diversity and altitude in an area which is predicted to support the majority of Bolivia's endemic amphibian species and 10 globally-threatened bird-species.

University of Glasgow - Project Tungnaarjokull 2001
Dr David Evans of the Department of Geography and Topographic Science leads a group of 10 research scientists and students to south central Iceland to assess the impact of the 1995 Vatnajokull glacier surge, as well as landform development during the period known as the Little Ice Age.   Their survey will map for the first time the snout of the Tungnaarjokull glacier, as well as test existing land system models.

University of Glasgow - Tenerife
A party of 26 students visits the Canary Isles to explore the impact of volcanic eruptions over the past 760,000 years.   Led by Dr Gordon Curry, the team will use evidence from the rocks to reconstruct environmental conditions in addition to preparing detailed maps and stratigraphic logs of volcanic deposits across southern Tenerife.

University of Oxford - Kasokwa, Uganda 2001
Alice Hawkins from Ullapool in Ross-shire leads a small group of researchers from Oxford University to Kasokwa in western Uganda to study the interaction between chimpanzees and local villagers in an area of forest which is being increasingly degraded as a result of population growth.   The data collected will contribute to long-term protection policies being formulated by the Masindi Chimp Organisation, which comprises respresentatives of the local community and the Jane Goodall Institute.

University of St Andrews - Greenland 2001
Second-year postdoctoral student Kim Jardine, leading a party of research scientists and students, visits the Russell Glacier to explore local geomorphology and current glacial processes with a view to understanding the evolution of past glacial environments.

Buckie High School - Morocco
Teacher Laura Girdwood travels to Morocco with 18 pupils to develop teamwork and fieldwork skills in a study which contrasts the environments of coast, High Atlas, and Pre-Sahara areas.   Specific projects include studies of land-use, local irrigation systems, and the impact of tourism on a Berber village on the slopes of the Toubkal Massif.

Merchiston Castle School - Fiji
Tony Millard returns to the Fijian island of Vanua Levu with a group of 5th and 6th form students.   In addition to introducing students to a climatic, biological, and social environment at grass-roots level in a less-economically-developed country, the team will assist with the extension of a village water-supply reservoir in an attempt to eliminate dry-season droughts.

Perth Academy - Ecuador 2001
A dozen pupils led by Geography teacher Jackie Yuill head for South America to participate in an Amerindian cultural exchange project, and study climatic change from the Amazonian rain-forest to the High Andes of Ecuador.   The team will also treck the Inca Trail from Alausi to Ingapirca, and undertake a high-altitude climb to the peak of Iliniza to record landforms and vegetation.