Arnaud Tchassem
- Project name: Conserving the Bamboutos egg frog.
- Project site: Mount Bamboutos, Cameroon
- EDGE species: Bamboutos Egg Frog, Leptodactylodon axillari
- Active: 2020 - ongoing
Biography
Arnaud is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Yaoundé. Arnaud has been involved in various ecological field-based studies in Cameroon, primarily focusing on amphibians.
Arnaud hopes that the Fellowship will help him to improve his competency and knowledge of conservation project management, as well as learning how to successfully implement his project. Further to this, Arnaud is looking forward to gaining a personal boost in knowledge and networking, which will help him to reinvigorate his conservation work.
EDGE Project
Arnaud’s project aims to s to understand the threats and status of the L. axillaris on Mount Bamboutos whilst improving it’s conservation through improving the quality of the species’ habitat and increasing awareness in the local communities.
His objectives are to:
•Identify priority areas for the species’ conservation by reevaluating the severity of threats on known sites (e.g. deforestation, degradation, and overgrazing) and identify any new threats (such as severity of amphibian chytrid fungus infection) by the end of the project;
• Restore degraded breeding sites of L. axillaris through the planting of fast-growing indigenous tree species by the end of 2021;
• Understand the existing agrarian-socio-economic systems by the end of 2021;
• Encourage local participant and engagement with conservation.
