Peru is home to one of the most spectacular rainforests reserves in the world, the National Park of Manú. Recognized by UNESCO in 1987 as a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve, it is a model of biological diversity.
Though the animals and plant life are protected, they are also threatened by climate change. In an effort to preserve this beautiful place, home to various species, Peruvian researchers are leading a project to monitor nature behavior of this rainforest in real time.
Walking through this preserve, it is really common to experience temperature changes, from pouring rain to a scorching sun. Being such a unique area makes this rainforest critical for researcher’s data collection, in order to further analyze these changes.
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RFID Radical Solutions, a Peruvian company, has installed Libelium’s Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Environment and Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Agriculture platforms for this project. These two wireless sensor platforms will monitor different parameters of collected water and air samples. These platforms are able to communicate information with high-range-transmission equipment.
Led by a Peruvian engineer, Jorge Camus, several cameras and 25 wireless sensors have been installed, that can emit information about what is happening in the nature reserve via Internet to any location.
Humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure, weather and solar radiation are measured, along with the amount of air pollutants, CO2, NO2, O2, CO and CH4.
“This area is really rough, but there is no doubt that is the most suitable one to see how the world behaves in its natural state. So, I think that this is the best place to carry out a project about environmental monitoring,” stated Jorge Camus.
Rainforests will send real-time data
The purpose of this project is to give real-time information about the rainforest environment to researchers who are working in the nature reserve, and to individuals who are interested in this area. All the devices use solar energy supplied by a solar panel installed in each platform. Therefore, the environment of the rainforest and the local people’s lives are not disturbed.
“The sensors installed in this area will monitor the environment of the biosphere, both flora and fauna. There was a great need to know the different parameters, because they reflect nature’s behavior. This scientific data will have a significant use to the worldwide researcher and environmental communities”, affirms Jorge Camus.
Libelium is happy to help scientists and researchers combat climate change because it is a main priority of the company to show corporate social responsibility. This is a great step in learning about natural habitats and how they work.