Delayed by one day due to the passage of the Cyclone Batsirai, the Graduate and Undergraduate course on “ARMS to reefs: A new tool to restore coral reef biodiversity, fisheries yields, and human health in Madagascar” was finally launched on Tuesday 8th of February.
The first day was devoted to Ecology, with the participation of Gildas Todinanahary (IH.SM University of Toliara) and Aaron Hartmann, from Harvard University Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, who gave an interesting lesson on the sexual reproduction of corals. The debate which followed the lecture showed all the interest of the students in the training and the importance of the topic.
The first day was also marked by the beginning of R Bootcamp. The students learned how to Input and Wrangle Data in R, with Jessica Zamborain Mason from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Today Wednesday, students were able to learn and discuss about Barcoding and eDNA methods, with Jean-Dominique Durand from IRD, followed by a lecture on how to collect fisheries data: fisheries monitoring, GPS tracking, catch survey design, with Marc Léopold, also from IRD.
Due to travel restrictions (COVID 19), these first lectures are all given remotely by videoconference.
Thanks to the local staff including Eddy Falimanana, Léa Ravaoarisoa, and especially the PhD students José Randrianandrasana, Aroniaina Falinirina, Sandra Ranaivomanana and Anissa Volanandiana as well as the MSc interns for their commitment to make this course happen.
Read more about the course here.
Learn more about the ARMS Restore project here.