David “Max” Jones ’24, ’26 MS spent much of the past year in Panama, climbing into the treetops to collect data for his master’s thesis as part of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences bachelor’s/master’s degree program in plant biology and conservation.
David “Max” Jones ’24, ’26 MS knows what it’s like to be 60 feet off the ground, navigating the swaying branches of a rainforest canopy to place a wildlife camera. And, in one instance, do it all while surrounded by a deafening group of howler monkeys.
“They got so close,” Jones said. “I was just holding on enjoying the show the entire time.”
Jones spent much of the past year in Panama, climbing into the treetops to collect data for his master’s thesis as part of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences bachelor’s/master’s degree program in plant biology and conservation.
Jones is studying the animals living in the canopy of forest fragments — the mosaic of stands of trees left after much of the surrounding land became cow pastures and pineapple plantations.
Researchers have devoted a “good amount” of monitoring to mammals on the ground in these forests, Jones said. However, little is known about how animals use the canopies, the upper layer of trees’ dense foliage that acts as the roof over the rainforest. In an ecosystem where half the species are tree-dwellers, that information is critical for understanding the conservation value of the habitat.
For his master’s thesis, Jones has been using wildlife cameras to study the animals living in the canopy of forest fragments — the mosaic of stands of trees left after much of the surrounding land became cow pastures and pineapple plantations.
Jones arrived at this topic for his master’s thesis thanks to a conversation with Claudio Monteza-Moreno, a Ph.D. student at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. The two met in Costa Rica while Jones was working on his undergraduate thesis, developing an inexpensive device to monitor the temperatures of relocated sea turtle nests. Jones is also collaborating with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
After completing his undergraduate degree — and a special course in tree-climbing — Jones joined Monteza-Moreno in Panama. Since last fall, they’ve been using wildlife cameras to monitor forest fragments in the Panama Canal watershed. There, to maintain the canal’s levels, the Panama Canal Authority pays farmers to maintain a certain percentage of forest cover on their land. He also set up cameras in protected forests in central Panama, to understand how the wildlife there compared with the fragmented areas.
Going in, Jones didn’t have high expectations for what the cameras in fragmented areas would capture.
“The idea is, well, a monkey might not want to make the long trip all the way to the ground to then cross a pasture to then go back up in a tree,” he said.
But retrieving the cameras every other month soon became “like opening presents on Christmas,” Jones said. Poring through each round of photos revealed an abundance of life, from common animals such as the vocal howler monkeys that researchers knew occupied the fragments to the elusive jaguarundi, a wildcat that’s slightly larger than the average housecat and sports an elongated body.
Slide 1: Retrieving the wildlife cameras every other month became “like opening presents on Christmas,” Jones said, as each round of photos revealed an abundance of life. Above, a monkey makes its way across a branch, as captured by one such camera. Photo courtesy Max Jones
Slide 2: A kinkajou captured by the wildlife cameras. Photo courtesy Max Jones
Slide 3: One relatively rare animal the wildlife cameras photographed was a jaguarundi, a wildcat that’s slightly larger than the average housecat and sports an elongated body. Photo courtesy Max Jones
Slide 4: A two-toed sloth hangs in a tree. Photo courtesy Max Jones
Slide 5: Howler monkeys were common residents of the forest fragments. During one camera setup expedition, a group of howler monkeys surrounded Jones. “I was just holding on enjoying the show the entire time,” he said. Photo courtesy Max Jones
Though Jones is still analyzing the data, it’s already become clear that the forest fragments’ small size belies their great value.
“We’re seeing way more species that rely on these canopies in these very isolated little patches of forest than we ever would’ve dreamed,” he said.
Jones has spent the summer in Germany at the Planck Institute working on the data analysis for his thesis. While his work is meant to be an introductory survey of the treetops’ residents for others to build on, it already offers some key insights that can be applied not only to the tropics, but globally.
“There are ways that we can arrange our landscapes to be more wildlife friendly,” he said.
In Jones’ opinion, his initial results offer both a ray of hope and an ensuing call to action.
“A lot of land goes unprotected just because it’s small,” he said. “But then you see areas like this that have very small, very patchy arrangements, and they’re still supporting an incredible amount of biodiversity. It becomes a call to protect every last square inch of forest.”
