On September 12, 2019, the FEES invited Mateusz Wrazidło to present his PhD thesis work as part of a research group specialised in robotics applied to environmental monitoring. His research topic is “Conservation through Cultivation. TEPUI-SAT: Autonomous environmental monitoring and simulation system for habitat research and cultivation of vulnerable tropical flora species.”

This research is made possible through the support of a MOU between UG and the Institute of Fundamentals of Machinery Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland.

Wrazidło’s research focuses on creating devices for remote study of environmental conditions of the habitat of tepuian Heliamphora, Droseras, and other species that are important to and part of the biogeographic richness of high table mountains. The study also considers fragile wetland ecosystems in water-saturated peatlands that are key for the hydrology of the Guiana Shield River Basins.

The main objective of the project is the development of a prototype of an environmental monitoring probe and using it for field measurements of various environmental particulars in given locations of the Guyanese Pakaraima mountains, especially with the aim of collecting long-term measurements at given locations characterized by the presence of the highland Pantepui environment and its endemic flora species.

His chamber design is intended to be under controlled environmental conditions determined by the original ecosystems that remotely send the signals to the internet cloud. This interesting research idea opened the enthusiasm of several lecturers and students at the University of Guyana.