Special Delivery: Centre ValBio’s Capture Station
In May 2025 MAX’s Head of Infrastructure, Rhodri Parry, journeyed from MAX HQ at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London, to deliver a digitisation capture station and training to Herbarium staff at Centre ValBio in southeastern Madagascar.
Situated on the edge of the Ranomafana tropical rainforest, Centre ValBio [CVB] is an international research campus and outpost of Stony Brook University’s Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments [ICTE], which was founded in 1991 by Herrnstein Professor of Conservation Biology, Dr. Patricia C. Wright.*
Dr Wright first travelled to Madagascar in 1986, “on a quest to find the greater bamboo lemur”. This mission soon expanded from finding the bamboo lemur to saving the species, along with its habitat. By 2007, Ranomafana National Park had become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, CVB works to protect Madagascar’s unique and biologically diverse ecosystems through scientific research, training and conservation, while providing employment and development opportunities for the local Malagasy community.
CVB’s herbarium was established in 2021 as part of the new AinaBe Hall building (“AinaBe” translating to “great life”), the aim being to create both a depository and reference collection of all plant species found in the Ranomafana National Park. The design of AinaBe Hall allowed CVB to concentrate its laboratories, herbarium, insectarium, fossil collections, server room, research offices and conference room together in one place, thereby minimising the need to move specimens around the campus during research. Initiating a programme of on-site digitisation was the next phase, and this is where MAX—and Rhodri—stepped in.
Of course, confirmation of the order was just the beginning of the adventure for MAX, for now we had to deliver and install the capture station at the research centre. This meant a few days away from the office for Rhodri, who travelled to Paris to catch an 11-hour flight to Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, landing at around midnight. Then it was up again at 5am to begin the 14-hour drive to CVB at Ranomafana. Rhodri, who once took 2nd place at the Le Mans 24-Hour Go-Kart Rally, is no stranger to demanding road trips! On this occasion, however, Rhodri was able to take a rest as an experienced driver, Fabrice, undertook the entire drive by himself with only a few rest-stops along the way. “The drive was honestly amazing,” Rhodri says, “as a first timer to Madagascar”. The majority of the scenery was of rice plantations which, by early evening (and after about 12 hours of driving) gave way to the tropical majesty of the Ranomafana rainforest. It was after dark when Fabrice, Rhodri and the all-important capture equipment arrived. Rhodri was accommodated at Setam Lodge, among the warm community of international researchers who had themselves travelled to CVB as part of its rolling programme of producing world-class original scientific research. Combined with the incredible scenery, this highly unusual—and very congenial—setting gave Rhodri a welcome change from London!
CVB’s intention in approaching MAX was to make their long-term digitisation plan as self-sufficient and independent as possible, with the ongoing programme of digital capture being undertaken by in-house staff on a system specifically calibrated to CVB’s needs. The final equipment package—MAX’s Gaia System—included a custom herbarium capture station frame, light panels, imaging software, a handheld barcode scanner, Mac Mini computer, 24” monitor and all related peripherals to get capture up and running. At the centre of the Gaia System is the Fujifilm GFX 100S II camera body paired, in this instance, with a 63mm lens for ultra-high-definition output. Fujifilm cameras are preferred by MAX for their exceptional usability, outstanding image resolution, and consistently reliable performance in demanding capture environments. In CVB’s case, it was imperative to ensure that the most delicate botanical samples would be consistently captured with detail and clarity, every time.
As well as delivering and installing the capture station, Rhodri also delivered MAX’s digital capture training package. The CVB facility is completely run by Malagasy locals, 12 of whom were to become ‘capturers’. Training took place over three days, with the assistance of Postdoctoral Researcher & Laboratory and Collection Manager Manjaka Rasolonjatovo, who acted as translator. As it turned out, the difference in language was no barrier to the CVB staff, who were completely invested in learning how to use the technology. By the end of the three days, the team was entirely proficient and there was even time to show Rhodri the insectarium.
Désiré (Dede) Randrianarisata
Rhodri Parry
Désiré (Dede) Randrianarisata
For Dr Wright, digitisation of the Herbarium is an important step in the wider programme of digitisation at CVB. “It is a wonderful opportunity to capture the amazing biodiversity of the Madagascar rainforest, into our Biodiversity database,” Dr Wright says. “Not only is each insect and plant specimen georeferenced, its “behaviour” and colours in the wild captured on video and photos, we will be taking acoustic recording of its sounds, recording uses or folklore about the organizm and of course archiving its DNA and genome. For plants, we are concentrating on capturing pollinators and seed dispersers. This is one of the first biodiversity digitised databases in Madagascar and I am very pleased to have this project right in the centre of the rainforest, where even local communities can participate.”
Rhodri is now back home in London following his Madagascan adventure, this being one of the more unusual deliveries MAX has made over the last 26 years. Does Rhodri think he’ll ever go back? “Well,” he says, “CVB staff seem very keen for an entomology capture station for their insectarium, which I made many notes on.” Let’s hope that Fabrice is available for the 14-hour drive when the time comes!
Additional Sources
The Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments
Rainforest Trust Partners “Centre ValBio”
Jimenez, Otero. B, Beatriz, Ren Montaño, Ryan S. Rothman, Rachel C. Williams, and Patricia C. Wright. “A surprising haven: The biodiversity of an old‐growth forest amidst a scorched landscape in Madagascar.” Conservation Science and Practice 5, no. 9 (2023): e12993.
Rothman, Ryan, Katherine Kling, Laza Andrianandrianina, Dina Andrianoely, Pascal Rabeson, Paul Rakotonirina, Jean de Dieu Ramanantsoa et al. “Centre ValBio research station: International centre for the valorization of biodiversity.” Ecotropica 24, no. 1/2 (2022).
* At time of going to press, Dr Wright was awarded the Champion of Biodiversity Award by the Ministry of the Environment in Madagascar. MAX is delighted to learn of this news and offers its warmest congratulations.
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