The problem: a species invisible in its own territory
Telmatobius macrostomus is endemic to the Peruvian regions of Junín and Pasco. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List (2018) and protected under Peruvian law (D.S. N° 004-2014-MINAGRI). The threats are well known: hunting and illegal trafficking, pollution and degradation of the rivers, and the presence of the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), an invasive alien species introduced for aquaculture that competes with the Lake Junin Frog and preys on its eggs and young. The Junín National Reserve (RNJ) and its buffer zone hold the largest historical records of the species, around Lake Chinchaycocha, declared a Ramsar site for its importance to high-mountain aquatic biodiversity.
What is less well documented is what the communities that live alongside that ecosystem know about it. When the Grupo RANA team began working with schools in the province of Junín, it found that this species we are trying to protect is often invisible to the people who live beside it.
The project: "Las ranas y yo – ciencia y empatía comunitaria"
In 2018 and 2019 we ran a pilot in the RNJ under the name "Iniciativa de conservación de anfibios altoandinos en la Cuenca del Chinchaycocha" (High-Andean Amphibian Conservation Initiative in the Chinchaycocha Basin). One hundred and fifty-three students and ten teachers formed a citizen science network that recorded wildlife observations on iNaturalist and took part in awareness activities on the management of irrigation canals, one of the factors that most alters the habitat of the Lake Junin Frog in livestock areas. That first experience convinced us that education could be a real conservation tool, not merely a declarative one.
Between 2021 and 2023 the project evolved into a more structured format: five science and technology clubs in secondary schools, whose students produced four research projects presented at the Feria Escolar Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Eureka Virtual 2021 (the national school science and technology fair). With what we learned in that process, we designed our own tool: the "Manual para docentes - Las ranas y yo: ciencia y empatía comunitaria" (Teachers' Manual - Frogs and Me: Science and Community Empathy) (link: https://bit.ly/479maXb) (March 2024), developed by a multidisciplinary team that brought together biologists, educators and environmental education specialists.
In its 2023 edition, the project reached 187 first-year secondary students in ten schools linked to the Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local Junín (the local education management unit for Junín), in communities such as Carhuamayo, Ondores, Ulcumayo and Junín. They took part in ten theoretical and practical teaching sessions and in two community science field trips in aquatic ecosystems of the RNJ and its buffer zone.
To measure the impact, we applied knowledge surveys before (May 2023) and after (November 2023) the intervention to the 187 participants: 89 female students (48%) and 98 male students (52%). The instruments assessed three areas: the Junín National Reserve as a protected area, the biology and conservation of T. macrostomus, and the fundamentals of scientific inquiry.
The results were encouraging. Correct recognition of the definition of a Natural Protected Area grew by +4.82%, and understanding of the concept of a buffer zone advanced by +18.71% (from 44.39% to 63.10%), the most significant gain in the study. Correct recognition of the definition of ecosystem services increased by +11.24% (from 32.08% to 43.32%).
In terms of specific knowledge about the Lake Junin Frog: before the project, 94 of 187 students identified the Rainbow Trout as an invasive species; by the end, 101 did. Those who recognized illegal hunting as a threat rose from 129 to 148.
What the process taught us
Beyond the percentages, designing and implementing the project left us lessons we want to share with other teams working at the intersection of conservation and education.
First, contextualization matters a great deal. The best learning outcomes came where students could connect with their immediate surroundings: the lake they see from their homes, the trout their families raise or eat, the bofedales that surround their communities. Talking about "biodiversity" in the abstract has little effect; talking about the frog that lives in this lake and is disappearing generates questions, emotions and memory.
Second, the field is irreplaceable. The community science field trips, in which students recorded organisms on iNaturalist and acted as active observers, had a greater learning impact. The role of "scientist" transforms the student's relationship with the species: it is no longer school content, it is something he or she knows and has seen.
Third, the teacher is the ally who multiplies. Creating our own teaching manual, instead of depending on our team for every session, turned out to be the most strategic decision of the project. The teachers who understood the approach became multipliers, adapting the activities and sustaining the thread of the work between our visits. Investing in teacher training is as important as designing good materials.
And fourth, measuring results strengthens everyone's credibility. The decision to apply standardized pre- and post-intervention surveys allows us not only to demonstrate impact to funders and education authorities, but also to identify precisely which concepts prove most difficult and which aspects of the teaching design should be adjusted.
Acknowledgments
We would also like to thank our main donors: Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, Hogle Zoo, The New England Biolabs Foundation, The Rufford Foundation, and Miami Zoo.