It has been a very busy few months with lots happening since the last edition of our newsletter.

First and foremost, after 12 wonderful years with CLP, I have decided to step down as Director of the program. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with CLP’s network of grantees, partners and supporters. I am happy to announce that Stuart Paterson has been appointed to lead CLP as Executive Manager. Many of you already know Stu – he has been with the program for seven years and is thrilled to be taking on this new challenge.

In May, CLP ran a Writing for Conservation training workshop in Brazil. This 5-day workshop led by Dr. Martin Fisher, editor of the journal Oryx, guided 10 participants from Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia through the process of planning, preparing and writing a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed scientific journal of conservation or ecology.

CLP held our annual two-week Conservation Management and Leadership Course for 2015 award winners in Alberta, Canada this June. Twenty-one participants from 12 countries were trained in a variety of topics like leadership, project planning, communications, behavior change and fundraising. We all enjoyed beautiful hikes, bear sightings, and culture nights. Read about the training from a participant’s point of view in this issue and check out the latest CLP video featuring participants from the course.

CLP partnered with other conservation donors to support alumni events at this year’s ICCB in Montpellier, France. Together with WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program and the Whitley Fund for Nature, we organized a networking social for the members of our networks, featuring a discussion with Rodrigo Medellin. Over 20 CLP alumni were at the ICCB, including seven funded with CLP travel grants.

There was also a strong CLP presence at a recent conference specifically focused on Building Capacity for Conservation & Resource Management in Nairobi, Kenya. Here, 170 delegates gathered to exchange ideas, develop and enhance capacity networks, and formulate solutions to common capacity problems.

In the coming weeks we shall be releasing news about our 2016 Call for Applications for Team Conservation Awards valued from $12,500 to $40,000 so make sure you follow CLP via Facebook and Twitter for all our latest news!

Wishing you continued success in your lives and work. Please read on for more news, updates and achievements accomplished by CLP alumni.

Robyn Dalzen

Adventure, exploration and journeying to remote locations where no one has been before is part of what drives Bandana Aul. The other part is her respect and understanding for bats, particularly the Indian flying fox, and the knowledge that if she does not work to protect these species then few others will. Working as a mammologist with the Bombay Natural History Society until recently, she hopes soon to be able to set up her own NGO. Bandana told us about the struggles and successes in her career and her contribution in India’s conservation network.

On behalf of the CLP team and partnership, thanks to all who supported WCS and CLP in our effort to win $500,000 from Microsoft! Results will be announced in early September. Watch CLP on social media for updates.

8-11 Sept 2015: Student Conference on Conservation Science - India

7-9 Oct 2015: Student Conference on Conservation Science - USA

26-29 Oct 2015: III World Biodiversity Congress - Serbia

30 Nov-11 Dec 2015: COP 21 / CMP 11 - France

13-18 Dec 2015: Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals - USA

CLP alumni win Marsh Awards!	A participant's view: CLP training
From Himalyas to Czech Republic	Project planning manual in Arabic!

Carvajal-Cogollo, J., Urbina-Cardona, J.N. (2015) Ecological grouping and edge effects in tropical dry forest: reptile-microenvironment relationships. Biodiversity and Conservation 24(5): 1109-1130

We evaluated the effect of tropical dry forest edges in fragments on reptile structure and ecological groups, and their relationship to 15 environmental variables in the Caribbean Region, Colombia. We used 15 pasture-edge-interior gradients and 12 permanent linear transects per gradient, sampling them on three occasions between January and December 2006. We recorded 35 species (pasture: 15, forest edge: 28, forest interior: 16). Reptile structure was different along the pasture-edge-interior gradient and the magnitude of the influence of the edge effect on the abundance of the most common species changed from the dry to rainy season. We identified seven ecological groups based on three fixed functional traits: species habit, size and reproductive mode... 

Costa-Araújo, R., Silveira, L. F. & Luz, D. E. (2015) Rediscovery of the Creste Eagle (Morphnus guianensis Daudin, 1800) in the fragmented Atlantic Forest of Bahia, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Ornithology: 23 (1): 25-28 

We here report the second documented record of Crested Eagle Morphnus guianensis from the Bahian Atlantic Forest, from a 2,300 ha patch of Tabuleiro forest in a pasture-matrix. The only previous documented record from Bahia is from the beginning of the 19th Century. This is the first record of this eagle from fragmented landscapes in the Atlantic Forest, in an isolated forest patch five times smaller than minimum expected home-range size. This observation suggests that M. guianensis may outlast the habitat fragmentation in Atlantic Forest landscapes, potentially relying upon multiple forest patches to hunt. The eagle was photographed after a failed predation attempt on a group of Golden-headed Lion Tamarins Leontopithecus chrysomelas. It is the first record of a potential prey species for Crested Eagles in the Atlantic Forest.

Hernández-Ordóñez, O., Urbina-Cardona, J.N. & Martínez-Ramos, M. (2015) Recovery of amphibian and reptile assemblages over secondary forest succession in a tropical rainforest region. Biotropica 47(3): 377-388. doi: 10.1111/btp.12207

Conversion of tropical forests to agriculture affects vertebrate assemblages, but we do not know how fast or to what extent these assemblages recover after field abandonment. We addressed this question by examining amphibians and reptiles in secondary forests in southeastern Mexico. We used chronosequence data (12 secondary forests fallow for 1–23 yr and 3 old-growth forest sites) to analyze successional trajectories and estimate recovery times of assemblage attributes for amphibians and reptiles. We conducted 6 surveys at each site over 14 mo (1200 person-hours) and recorded 1552 individuals, including 25 species of amphibians and 36 of reptiles, representing 96 and 74 percent of the expected regional number of species, respectively. Abundance, species richness, and species diversity of amphibians increased rapidly with successional age, approaching old-growth forest values in < 30 yr…

See all recent alumni publications here

Aaranyak (India) | Applied Environmental Research Foundation (India) | Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (India) | Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan | Aves y Conservación (Ecuador) | Bat Census in Crimean Caves (Ukraine) | Birds-Indonesia | BirdLife Zimbabwe | Calidris (Colombia) | Care Earth Trust (India) | Community Centered Conservation (C3 - Comoros) | Conserving the Lesser Florican (India) | EcoLeague (Russia) | Faunagua (Bolivia) | Fundación Conserva (Colombia) | Fundación CEBio (Argentina) | Fundación Malpelo y Otros Ecosistemas Marinos (Colombia) | Guyra (Paraguay) | Instituto de Pesquisas Cananéia (Brazil) | Jampatu - Conserving Bolivian Amphibians | Katala Foundation (Philippines) | Korup Rainforest Conservation Society (Cameroon) | Kuzeydoga (Turkey) | Life on Chalk (Ukraine) | Mabuwaya Foundation (Philippines) | Macedonian Ecological Society | Madagasikara Voakajy | Maio Biodiversity Foundation (Cape Verde) | Mediterranean Conservation Society (Turkey) | Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative (Tanzania) | Nature Conservation Foundation (India) | Nature Iraq | Organisation Ecotouristique du Lac Oguemoué (Gabon) | ProDelphinus (Peru) | ProAves (Colombia) | Project Karumbé (Uruguay) | Proyecto Atelopus | Proyecto Washu (Ecuador) | Rivers without Boundaries Coalition (Eurasia) | Samoan Birds | Save the Frogs! Ghana | SAVE Brasil | Sea to Shore Alliance (USA) | Shanshui Conservation Center (China) | Snow Leopard Trust (International) | South Rupununi Conservation Society (Guyana) | Strizh Ecological Centre (Russia) | Tide Belize | Yelkouan Shearwater Project (Turkey) | WildlifeDirect (Kenya) | Zoo Outreach Organization (India)