HOOKER MANTILLA Yuri, Peru

Abstract (as taken from original proposal)

Surprisingly, Porifera are among the less known marine organisms of the Peruvian coast. No investigation had been done until recently, mainly because of the lack of national taxonomists. The Peruvian National Action Plan for Marine Biodiversity Assessment aims at inventorying the diversity of poorly known taxonomic groups, and as such, Porifera is a priority group. This is why the ESPER Project was launched by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in collaboration with the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH). After three expeditions (2007, 2008, 2009) along the entire coast of Peru, 13 students received a field training, 4 of them are engaged in a master thesis. Nearly 800 samples were collected in 105 localities. So far, more than 100 marine species and 3 freshwater ones have been inventoried. Samples are still under study and will be described in an ABC Taxa volume “ Sponges of Peru – Esponjas del Peru”.

Training location: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels.