.png)
THE HONDURAS VIPER PROJECT
The Honduras Viper Project works in collaboration with Operation Wallacea (www.opwall.com) as part of their long-term biodiversity monitoring and conservation research in Cusuco National Park (CNP), Honduras. Illegal deforestation, as well as the impacts of climate change on cloud forest habitat, threatens all species within the park. But to what relative extent different species will be affected is complex.
​
The project aims to investigate the genetic diversity and potential population fragmentation of two sympatric pit-vipers in CNP; the emerald palm pit-viper (Bothriechis marchi), and Wilson’s pit-viper (Cerrophidion wilsoni). B. marchi is predominantly an arboreal species, whereas C. wilsoni is largely terrestrial in its ecology. It is likely, therefore, that B. marchi will be more vulnerable to forest loss and increased fragmentation of the forest habitat.
Initial Sanger sequencing analysis of three mitochondrial DNA genes has already shed some light on this question, supporting this hypothesis. However, finer-scale population structure analysis is needed to get a better picture of natural and anthropogenic barriers to gene flow in the park.
​
Our aim is to use microsatellite markers and/or next generation sequencing to better understand the genetic diversity and population connectivity within this increasingly fragmented landscape in order to inform conservation management in CNP.