Infrastructure Improvement for the Crater Mountain Biological Research Station, Papua New Guinea

野生动物保护协会（WCS）的Andrew L. Mack博士获得了一笔赠款，用于升级火山口山生物研究站（CMBRS）的基础设施。这些监测站位于巴布亚新几内亚（PNG），这个年轻的民主国家占据了新几内亚岛的东半部，这是仅次于格陵兰岛的世界第二大岛屿。该岛拥有地球上5%以上的生物多样性，是地球上仅存的三个热带雨林荒野地区之一。尽管巴新拥有独特的生物群，但它是研究最少、最不为人所知的主要生态区之一。在那里开展的CMBRS和WCS项目致力于促进我们对这一至关重要的生态区域的了解，并为生物学学生在原始雨林荒野中提供优秀的教育机会。十多年来，CMBRS一直是巴布亚新几内亚首屈一指的雨林研究目的地——近100名研究人员在这里工作，发表了50多篇论文。尽管WCS做出了巨大的努力来维持该站，但热带气候的退化和每年20英尺的降雨量正在对该站造成损害。为了满足来访科学家和学生日益增长的需求，有必要重建该站并升级其设施。由焊接钢和乙烯基壁板建造的新设施将取代目前的全木结构。这个新设施的预期使用寿命将超过40年。这些材料将由一家提供采矿营地的公司在巴布亚新几内亚预制，并由直升机运送到偏远的CMBRS地点。这笔赠款还将升级目前的太阳能供电服务，并在这个偏远的现场启用改进的现代计算设施。该站位于巴布亚新几内亚第二大保护区（26万公顷）的中心，也是最成功的保护区之一。CMBRS为保护项目提供科学指导，为可行的管理规划提供数据。该站还作为一个独特的教育设施；使来自美国和其他国家的大学生能够接触到原始的热带森林及其多样化和特有的生物群。CMBRS的学生培训项目让美国本科生沉浸在一个密集的研究培训项目中，他们专注于生物领域的研究和自然历史至少三个月。该站和WCS还负责为巴布亚新几内亚国民提供广泛的培训项目，否则这些国民几乎没有机会在该国的热带雨林中进行实地研究。CMBRS的教育和研究项目大大提高了我们对这一独特生态系统的认识，并有望在基础设施改善后产生更大的影响，从而完成更多的工作。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Andrew L. Mack at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) for upgrading infrastructure of the Crater Mountain Biological Research Station (CMBRS). The stations is located in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the young democracy occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the world's second largest island after Greenland. The island is home to over 5% of Earth's biodiversity and is one of three remaining tropical rainforest wilderness areas on our planet. Despite the unique biota PNG is one of the least-studied and poorest-known major ecoregions. The CMBRS and the WCS programs undertaken there are dedicated to furthering our knowledge of this critically important ecoregion and providing outstanding education opportunities for biology students in a pristine rainforest wilderness. CMBRS has been the premier rainforest research destination in PNG for over a decade-- nearly 100 researchers have worked here resulting in over 50 publications.Despite substantial efforts by WCS to maintain the station, the degradation from the tropical climate and twenty feet of annual rainfall is taking its toll on the station. It has become necessary to rebuild the station and upgrade its facilities to meet the increasing demands of visiting scientists and students. A new facility constructed of welded steel and vinyl siding will replace the present all-wood structure. This new facility will have an expected lifespan of over forty years. The materials will be pre-fabricated in PNG by a company that supplies mining camps and delivered to the remote CMBRS site by helicopter. The grant will also upgrade the current solar-powered electrical service and enable improved, modern computing facilities in this remote field site. The station is in the heart of PNG's second largest (260,000 hectares) and one of the most successful conservation areas. CMBRS provides scientific guidance for the conservation project, providing data for viable management planning. The station also serves as a unique educational facility; enabling university students from the US and other nations access to pristine tropical forests and its diverse and endemic biota. Student training programs at CMBRS immerse US undergraduate students in an intensive research-training program where they focus on biological field studies and natural history for at least three months. The station and WCS also oversee a wide range of training programs for PNG nationals who otherwise have little access to field-based research in the nation's rainforests. The education and research programs at CMBRS have significantly improved our knowledge of this unique ecosystem and promise to have even greater impact after the infrastructure improvements allow more work to be accomplished there.