Reinforcement of prevention measures
Mobile app
As part of the MERCI project, a mobile application running on Android was developed. The aim is to automatically identify two species of geckos, the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) and the mabouia (Hemidactylus mabouia).
The Gecko+ application was developed as part of the work of a master’s degree internship in computer science, following the extraction of the characteristics of 360 photos of mourning geckos and 136 photos of mabouias (read the Master report) .
The application can be downloaded from the following link: https://geckoplus.univ-antilles.fr/
If the installation is not automatic, go to the browser options (Chrome for Android or Microsoft, Safari for IOS), then click on “install Gecko+”
Training seminars
The management of invasive exotics species requires good local capacity in the study of wildlife and the development and implementation of management plans, but also in the recognition of these species by people directly concerned by the invasions through their profession.
Training workshops will thus be offered to various target groups, such as the national nature protection services of the countries and territories of the Lesser Antilles, managers of natural areas, animal trade companies, customs and environmental police. These workshops will help the professions on the front line of invasions (customs personnel and environmental police officers) to better recognize invasive exotic reptile species from native species, to detect them more effectively and to handle them safely. In addition, several students at Masters and Doctoral level will benefit from training thanks to research projects developed for project.
The MERCI project is coordinated by Caribaea Initiative, an international NGO that develops research and education projects for the conservation of biodiversity in the Caribbean.
The MERCI project is co-funded by the INTERREG Caribbean program under the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).
The MERCI project, acronym for ” Managing Exotic Reptiles on Caribbean Islands”, aims to study invasive exotic reptiles in order to adapt management measures.