When she got the offer to join the trip to Cameroon, she had no doubts. For two weeks, she and six other students from Norway have been together with researchers and students from five different countries. Maria Oksvold, a student in biosciences, seized the opportunity to take a course in methods and systematics for tropical insects.
About the project:
The project ANTENNA stands for "Norwegian – African network for training a new generation of entomologists in DNA-based molecular methods".
The course is part of an international collaborative project funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills. The project started in 2019.
There are eight countries participating in the collaboration: Norway, Cameroon, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Madagascar.
The collaboration gives students and researchers access to study species in other parts of the world, exchange experiences and methods, and contribute to a better mapping of species and species diversity.
Two weeks in the rainforest
"Everyone should accept such an opportunity" Oksvold says.
There are several courses at the University of Oslo that offers exchange.
Oksvold claims that it would have been impossible to spend two weeks in the rainforest in Cameroon if she had not participated in the course. During the two weeks the course lasted, she learned how to catch and map tropical insects and how to systematize them. She says this is part of the motivation for researcher Vladimir Gusarov from the Natural History Museum. Biodiversity is poorly mapped in this part of the world. Therefore, it is an exciting opportunity for researchers like Gusarov, who is mapping the species they found. Could it be that there are new species?
“We were a bit like research assistants down there", she says.
In addition to getting a certified course in surveying tropical insects, Oksvold has brought home soil and water samples. She hopes to have the opportunity to take a closer look at what is in the samples.
“Someone brushed their teeth with that water, and they are sick to their stomachs now", she says, shuddering.
Got a tick in my nose
She herself did not escape completely either. Once at home, Oksvold discovered something in her nose. After a couple of days, she managed to get it out, and discovered that it was moving. She had contracted a tropical tick.
“I put it on alcohol", she says. “So now I would like to find out what species it is".
Oksvold describes that she was "freaked out" at the start, but after asking others, she discovered that the tick in Cameroon does not carry Lyme disease.
“It is probably less dangerous to get a tick in Cameroon than in Norway", she says.
Despite this experience, she still has no doubts: She recommends other students to take advantage of the opportunity.
“After the two weeks, I feel that I know the other students on the course much better than those I have studied with for two years. You get to know each other in a completely different way", she says.
According to Oksvold, the weeks in Mount Cameroon National Park have been intense, with long days, rain, and a lot of impressions, but still an experience she wouldn’t be without.
Masters in unknown terrain
One of the other students who took part in the course was Håkon Knudsen. He has also been to Cameroon once before. He maps a group of beetles called Rove beetles. In the thesis, he will compare the diversity and distribution of species in this group in two different mountain areas in Africa.
“Insects, and especially beetles, are the largest species group in general. The Rove beetles are the largest family in terms of number of species that we know about, but these mountain areas are little explored", says Knudsen.
Furthermore, he says they probably already have samples of new species from the first trip he took part in.
“It was quite likely that we would find new species, considering how many species there already are in this group, and the fact that not many people have worked on this before", explains Knudsen.
Knudsen would also recommend more people to try this:
“This is a free trip to Cameroon for two weeks in the middle of the year", he says. “Either you will enjoy the work and continue, or in any case you will get an experience of a lifetime."
Translated from Norwegian to English by Åslaug Brynildsen.
