Fanihi Foraging Citizen Science Project

Community engagement and collaboration, Monitoring
Fanihi Foraging Citizen Science Project
Status
Ongoing

States

Guam

Ecosystem

Forest

Subject

Bats
Citizen science
Endangered and/or Threatened species
Fanihi feed on different plant species. Help us collect data around the island on important plant species for our fanihi. You can do this at your favorite park or in your backyard using iNaturalist! For more information, contact our Park Ranger at 671-355-5096.

The Guam National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) is implementing its first citizen science project: Fanihi Foraging!

Throughout the year, please join Refuge staff in finding five plant species that the fanihi (in CHamoru) or Mariana fruit bat (Pteropus mariannus mariannus) uses to feed on Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. While there are more trees the fanihi will use to forage, the five plant species we are targeting are breadfruit (lemmai and dukduk [dugdug in iNaturalist]), fig (nunu and dye fig), and burny bean. This information will be shared with researchers working on fanihi recovery. Observations should be recorded on iNaturalist. Join our project on iNaturalist by searching the projects list for "Fanihi Foraging" or by going directly to the project page.

Here at the Refuge, we plan to use this data to determine the distribution of each species on the Refuge to determine where we need to plant new trees and what species we need to plant. This project is part of our larger Native Limestone Forest Restoration and Enhancement project

The slides from our October 19 event will be posted soon!

We plant to host another event in December. Keep on the lookout for more information!

Library

Citizen scientists on Guam discuss plant features to help with identification
A day of fun, learning, and habitat conservation with our community

Facilities

Green sea turtle at Ritidian
Håfa adai and welcome to the Guam National Wildlife Refuge! Part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Guam National Wildlife Refuge is a sanctuary for many species that are native and endemic to Guam.

Programs

A bright blue sky obstructed by fluffy white clouds reflected off of a stream shot from inside a kayak
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages an unparalleled network of public lands and waters called the National Wildlife Refuge System. With more than 570 refuges spanning the country, this system protects iconic species and provides some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities on Earth.

Species