TWO teams of students at Glasgow University have been awarded #3000 each by the BP Conservation Programme to fund research projects to

Bolivia and Pemba Island in Tanzania.

An eight-strong team led by Allan Mee, 38, with Dan Gates, 22, Chris Cutts, 26, Cadi Schiffer, 20, Miguel Marzo, 28, Aidan MacCormack, 20, Ruairidgh, 21, along with Highlands-based bird artist Dave Pullan, 36, will study the threatened birds of the yungas forests of central Bolivia.

They will work with local conservation workers in one of the most important areas for Bolivian birds - such as the Yellow-rumped antwren and Hooded mountain toucan. The second team, Project Ngezi 1998, led by 24-year-old veterinary medicine student Richard Mellanby, with Paulo Catry, 29, Michael McKean, 23, Brendan Godley, 28, Annette Broderick, 27, Stuart Bearhop, 33, and Vicki Heaney, 28, will study birds of the Pemba Island Forest Reserve in Tanzania which are under threat as their habitat is destroyed.

The team will work with local students and scientific officers to build a conservation plan.

The awards - a total of #61,000 for 14 international student research projects in

1998 - attracted more than 130 applications from 44 countries.

THE annual general meeting of the Friends of Loch Lomond on Tuesday, May 19, will debate concerns that the effective management of the loch may be adversely affected by delays in legislating for national park status for the area until after the setting up of the Scottish Parliament. The meeting will also discuss whether the balance of interests on the Joint Committee of the Park Authority should be altered.

THE conservation section of Glasgow City Council's parks and recreation department is on the hunt for amphibious life on the city's doorstep. Working in conjunction with the conservation group Froglife, the council is asking Glasgow residents who have frogs, toads, or newts in their garden pond to contact Carol Aitken at the council's offices at 37 High Street, Glasgow G1 1LXP.

We welcome any comments, suggestions, or contributions. As well as our normal postal address, telephone and fax numbers, you can e-mail us on environ@cims.co.uk.