Margarita Sánchez Losada
- Project name: Conservation of Cuban Solenodon in Sierra Maestra and Sierra Cristal National Parks
- Project site: Sierra Maestra & Sierra Cristal National Parks
- EDGE species: Cuban Solenodon, Atopogale cubana
- Active: 2021 - ongoing
Biography
Margarita has been a researcher with the Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y biodiversidad since gaining her undergraduate degree in Biology from the Universidad de Oriente in Cuba. More recently she has completed her Masters degree in Zoology and Animal Ecology from the University of Havana.
Margarita hopes that the EDGE Fellowship will provide her with training in planning and execution of projects, as well as learning more about conservation biology, habitat management and the ecology of Cuban solenodon.
EDGE Project
Margarita’s project aims to update the current knowledge of Cuban Solenodon generating information about its distribution, habitat use and anthropogenic threats in Sierra Maestra and Pico Cristal National Parks.
Her objectives are to:
- Compile the existing scientific knowledge about Atopogale cubana;
- Map the occurrence of Atopogale cubana in Sierra Maestra and Pico Cristal National Parks;
- Investigate A. cubana habitat preferences;
- Assess the major threats to the species;
- Model the relative habitat suitability across the whole historic distribution area of the A. cubana using scientific and local knowledge data;
- Increase the environmental awareness of local residents of Pico Cristal and Sierra Maestra National Parks about A. cubana, its ecology, habitat, and conservation;
- Laid out the basis for a Conservation Action Plan of the species.
