Indigenous firefighters: The important role of the Pemón indigenous brigades in the construction of intercultural fire management in Canaima National Park, Venezuela

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Quantification of burnt areas as a fundamental parameter for the estimation of spatial and temporal patterns of fire incidence in Canaima National Park (Venezuela)

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Cross Curricular Use of Technology for Solving Mathematical Problems: Exploring Angel Falls Interdisciplinary Plan

This short practitioner report presents information for the planning, teaching and evaluation cycle of a cross curricular Computing, Geography and Mathematics lessons in a 5thgrade classroom. The study focused on both mathematical thinking and Geographical knowledge. The objective of the lesson was to teach children measurement and prediction skills through exploring the Angel Falls, located inside of the Canaima National Park in Venezuela, using the Google expedition application. For the purpose of this study, action research was chosen whereby the findings of this study were used to inform future planning and improve learning. The study found that the students were able to use their logical reasoning to predict the length of many objects including the Angel Falls. The project also found that providing children with real-life learning contexts motivated them to learn and made learning more meaningful. The children were able to transfer and apply their prediction skills during their coding sessions, which highlights the link between mathematical and computational thinking.

Species composition and species–area relationships in vegetation isolates on the summit of a sandstone mountain in southern Venezuela

Tepuis are uplifted mountains surrounded by forest or savannas in the Guayana Shield in northern South America. Large areas of the summits of these mountains are characterized by bare rock with vegetation isolates (‘islands’) that vary in size from less than 1 m2 to over 100 m2. The species composition, species–area relationships and the factors involved in the formation of these vegetation islands were quantified on Roraima Tepui, Canaima National Park, Venezuela. A total of 40 species were present on the islands, 35 of which were angiosperms. Orchidaceae was the family with the highest diversity, but Bonnetiaceae, Poaceae and Rapateaceae achieved higher coverage. A positive correlation between island size and species richness was found. This relationship was not linear and the best fit model between island size and richness was exponential. Of the environmental variables studied, the highest correlation was found between the log of soil volume and species richness. Soil nutrient availability, and not water, might be the limiting factor determining the species composition and diversity of these communities.