Conservation In Amazon Research Articles

Predicting environmental gradients with fern species composition in Brazilian Amazonia

AbstractAimA major problem for conservation in Amazonia is that species distribution maps are inaccurate. Consequently, conservation planning needs to be based on other information sources such as vegetation and soil maps, which are also inaccurate. We propose and test the use of biotic data on a common and relatively easily inventoried group of plants to infer environmental conditions that can be used to improve maps of floristic patterns for plants in general.LocationBrazilian Amazonia.MethodsWe sampled 326 plots of 250 m × 2 m separated by distances of 1–1800 km. Terrestrial fern individuals were identified and counted. Edaphic data were obtained from soil samples and analysed for cation concentration and texture. Climatic data were obtained from Worldclim. We used a multivariate regression tree to evaluate the hierarchical importance of soils and climate for fern communities and identified significant indicator species for the resultant classification. We then tested how well the edaphic properties of the plots could be predicted on the basis of their floristic composition using two calibration methods, weighted averaging and k‐nearest neighbour estimation.ResultsSoil cation concentration emerged as the most important variable in the regression tree, whereas soil textural and climatic variation played secondary roles. Almost all the plot classes had several fern species with high indicator values for that class. Soil cation concentration was also the variable most accurately predicted on the basis of fern community composition (R2 = 0.65–0.75 for log‐transformed data). Predictive accuracy varied little among the calibration methods, and was not improved by the use of abundance data instead of presence–absence data.ConclusionsFern species composition can be used as an indicator of soil cation concentration, which can be expected to be relevant also for other components of rain forests. Presence–absence data are adequate for this purpose, which makes the collecting of additional data potentially very rapid. Comparison with earlier studies suggests that edaphic preferences of fern species have good transferability across geographical regions within lowland Amazonia. Therefore, species and environmental data sets already available in the Amazon region represent a good starting point for generating better environmental and floristic maps for conservation planning.

Diversidade de mamíferos de médio e grande porte da região do rio Urucu, Amazonas, Brasil

Entre abril de 2008 e maio de 2009 foram realizadas expedições para o estudo sobre a riqueza, a composição e a abundância relativa dos mamíferos de médio e grande porte na região do rio Urucu (Amazonas, Brasil). Foram empregados três métodos de amostragem: censo por transecção linear, busca ativa por vestígios e armadilhas fotográficas. No total foram registradas 41 espécies de mamíferos pertencentes a 17 famílias e oito ordens. As ordens com maior riqueza foram Primates, com 13 espécies registradas, e Carnivora, com 11 espécies registradas. Entre os grupos mais abundantes se destacaram as ordens Primates, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla e Rodentia. A alta diversidade de espécies de mamíferos de médio e grande porte encontrada em Urucu reforça a importância desta região para a conservação da mastofauna amazônica.

The river-refuge hypothesis and other contributions of Marcio Ayres to conservation science

AbstractFor more than a century, biogeographers have sought to explain the large number of species found in Amazonian forests. The role of rivers as barriers to dispersal was recognized early on and this was the first evolutionary hypothesis to explain Amazonian diversity. Most of the recent debate on speciation in the Amazon has focused on the role of Pleistocene refugia. The methods of refuge biogeography helped shape early conservation priorities in Amazonia, although actual plans did not directly depend on the conceptual strengths or weaknesses of refugia biogeography. These approaches viewed people mostly as threats, though not always explicitly. Based on his work on primate distribution Marcio Ayres formulated a synthetic speciation theory, the river-refuge hypothesis. The river-refuge model successfully resolved some of the historical and technical challenges of the earlier hypotheses. His work in varzea conservation, informed by this conceptual brealthrough, recognized that the maintenance of processes is at least as important as species numbers in prioritizing action. The work of Marcio Ayres broadened the scope of conservation in Amazonia by moving beyond the model of people-as-threats, and this as great a conceptual contribution to conservation as anyone could make.

Effects of Future Infrastructure Development on Threat Status and Occurrence of Amazonian Birds

Researchers predict that new infrastructure development will sharply increase the rate and extent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. There are no predictions, however, of which species it will affect. We used a spatially explicit model that predicts the location of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 2020 on the basis of historical patterns of deforestation following infrastructure development. We overlaid the predicted deforested areas onto maps of bird ranges to estimate the amount of habitat loss within species ranges. We also estimated the amount of habitat loss within modified ecoregions, which were used as surrogates for areas of bird endemism. We then used the extent of occurrence criterion of the World Conservation Union to predict the future conservation status of birds in the Brazilian Amazon. At current rates of development, our results show that at least 16 species will qualify as threatened or will lose more than half of their forested habitat. We also identified several subspecies and isolated populations that would also qualify as threatened. Most of the taxa we identified are not currently listed as threatened, and the majority are associated with riverine habitats, which have been largely ignored in bird conservation in Amazonia. These habitats and the species they hold will be increasingly relevant to conservation as river courses are altered and hydroelectric dams are constructed in the Brazilian Amazon.

Human Impacts on Primate Conservation in Central Amazonia

Deforestation in the Amazon is a serious environmental, economic, and social concern. This article examines how a colonization plan to bring 180 families to an area north of Manaus, Brazil, would negatively impact the conservation of the six primate species residing in the area. The colonization sites would be located within the Biological Dynamics Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) study area, the longest-running study of forest fragmentation. An increase in human density in the area would likely increase deforestation and hunting pressure on the fauna, thereby threatening those species that have not fared well in forest fragments. Furthermore, the colonization plan threatens future research at BDFFP and other research sites, as well as the Central Amazonian Conservation Corridor. This would be a great scientific and conservation loss.

Embracing the Past: Conflict, Conservation, and Organization in Ecuador's Upper Amazon

This study explores the contested nature of relationships between indigenous communities and their representative organizations, government agencies, and international conservation organizations in conservation projects, and how the move from the Yellowstone model of parks conservation to the community participation model may lead to conflicts between competing groups. In Napo-Galeras—a transition zone between the foothills of the Andes and the Ecuadorian Oriente rainforest—land tenure arrangements led to encroachments on protected areas by in-migrating Napo Runa and mestizo colonists. The study methodology employed participant observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews with key stakeholders, and archival research in non-governmental organizations. This study concludes that conservation management plans should include environmental and social factors, which bear on resource use, and that indigenous participation alone in park planning does not necessarily lead to rainforest protection.

Amazonian conservation: pushing the limits of biogeographical knowledge

Amazonian conservation: pushing the limits of biogeographical knowledge

Explaining variation in Brazil nut fruit production

Brazil nut is widely recognized as the cornerstone of the Amazonian extractive economy. Tight linkages between Brazil nut production, regional income, and intact mature forests have thrust this species into focus as a key component of Amazonian conservation and income generation strategies. Nonetheless, a comprehensive synthesis of factors explaining Brazil nut fruit production variation is lacking. We aimed to address this knowledge gap, asking: (1) What are the rates and annual variation of Bertholletia excelsa fruit production at individual and population levels? (2) What factors explain B. excelsa production variation, focusing on spatial and temporal variables, diameter at breast height (dbh), crown attributes, liana loads, and soil attributes? and (3) Does liana cutting affect fruit production? Our model explained 73% of the variability in fruit production by 140 trees over 5 years. Dbh alone explained >50%, and trees in the middle diameter range (100 cm ≤ dbh < 150 cm) produced best. Top-producing trees were loosely grouped spatially. Cation exchange capacity and P also explained production variation. The liana load variable was only weakly significant for explaining production variation, and there were no direct significant effects of liana cutting. Cutting, however, did improve crown forms—another highly significant model variable. This, coupled with a weakly significant interaction of liana cutting by year, suggests that liana cutting could improve production over time. In any given year, approximately 25% of the trees produced 72% of the total population production. Annual variation of fruit production at the individual level was relatively high, and at the population level was extremely low, with annual production departing from average only in a year of delayed and reduced rainfall. These results coupled with low synchronicity of fruiting, confirm long-term observations of harvesters that Brazil nut populations exhibit relatively constant fruit production. Results suggest that fruit productivity at the individual tree level could be increased, possibly through experimental liana cutting and/or P amendments. At the population level, Brazil nut collectors could potentially increase efficiency by concentrating collection efforts on consistently high producers and possible production “hotspots”.

Driving a wedge into the Amazon

Things are heating up in the Amazon as the burning season begins. In Brazil, a 30-year-old study of forest fragments is itself threatened by farming, logging and hunting, say William Laurance and Regina Luizao. As a new season of burning and logging gets under way in the Brazilian rainforest, a project studying the effects of fragmentation on rainforest communities has itself become endangered. William Laurance and Regina Luizao report on the work of the Biological Dynamics of Forests Fragmentation Project and the new highway that threatens both this project and an important Amazonian conservation area.

Modelling the known and unknown plant biodiversity of the Amazon Basin

AbstractAims The overall aim of this study is to provide the data needed for Amazonian conservation and the sustainable management of the region. To this end I model the hypothetical distribution of plant species richness across the Amazon Basin, the distribution of the proportion of this species richness that can be accounted for by described species, and hence the distribution of the biodiversity which remains unknown.Location Amazonia, Neotropics.Methods Species richness across the Amazon Basin is estimated by comparing the occurrences of 1584 species of Magnoliophyta whose taxonomy and geographical distributions are relatively well known. These data are used to collate checklists for squares of 1° latitude by 1° longitude. Comparison of the checklists allows estimation of the relative expected diversity in the vicinity of each degree square. Summing the distributions of the hypothetical real ranges gives the proportion of the biodiversity that can be accounted for by described species. Subtraction of the second distribution from the first gives a distribution of the contribution to the overall biodiversity that the model predicts, potentially, results from as yet undescribed species.Results Collections documented in recent botanical monographs show an extremely biased distribution with the best knowledge being found in a very few relatively well‐collected areas. At the degree square level, this model predicts that gamma biodiversity in the Amazon Basin is uniformly high across most of the basin. The model predicts that four large areas of the basin are particularly poorly known, and that they should contain large numbers of uncollected species.Main conclusions The model presented here highlights the difficulties of quantifying Amazonian plant diversity and its distribution. The low density of collections, and especially their extremely clumped distribution, undermines confidence in theories that seek to explain the apparent distribution of biodiversity. The model's prediction is substantially different from published predictions of the distribution of alpha diversity. Testing of this model in the areas identified as lacunae would require collecting programmes designed to collect fertile material of rare species. If the model's predictions are approximately accurate, the plant biodiversity of the Amazon Basin is considerably underestimated.

Holocene fire and occupation in Amazonia: records from two lake districts.

While large-scale pre-Columbian human occupation and ecological disturbance have been demonstrated close to major Amazonian waterways, less is known of sites in terra firme settings. Palaeoecological analyses of two lake districts in central and western Amazonia reveal long histories of occupation and land use. At both locations, human activity was centred on one of the lakes, while the others were either lightly used or unused. These analyses indicate that the scale of human impacts in these terra firme settings is localized and probably strongly influenced by the presence of a permanent open-water body. Evidence is found of forest clearance and cultivation of maize and manioc. These data are directly relevant to the resilience of Amazonian conservation, as they do not support the contention that all of Amazonia is a 'built landscape' and therefore a product of past human land use.

The Politics of Amazonian Conservation: The Struggles of Rubber Tappers

The social movement of the Amazonian rubber tappers started as a marginal group which initially claimed land rights, and ultimately succeeded in establishing extractive reserves, territories designed for the sustainable use of traditional populations under rhe Brazilian system of nature conservation. In short, they became exemplary of grassroots participation in sustainable development. I try to show in this article how this transition was possible by narrating a series of political actions taking place at the local and national levels, as well as at the regional setting which links both. With these narratives I will try account for the way local action and beliefs interact with wider powers and worldviews, in a "combined and uneven development."

The Politics of Amazonian Conservation: The Struggles of Rubber Tappers

The Politics of Amazonian Conservation: The Struggles of Rubber Tappers

Amazonian biodiversity: assessing conservation priorities with taxonomic data

Data from 3991 records of museum collections representing 421 species of plants, arthropods, amphibians, fish, and primates were analyzed with GIS to identify areas of high species diversity and endemism in Amazonia. Of the 472 1 · 1∞ grid cells in Amazonia, only nine cells are included in the highest species diversity category (43‐67 total species) and nine in the highest endemic species diversity category (4‐13 endemic species). Over one quarter of the grid cells have no museum records of any of the organisms in our study. Little correspondence exists between the centers of species diversity identified by our collections-based data and those areas recommended for conservation in an earlier qualitative study of Amazonian biodiversity. Museum collections can play a vital role in identifying species-rich areas for potential conservation in Amazonia, but a concerted and structured eAort to increase the number and distribution of collections is needed to take maximum advantage of the information they contain.

A Forager‐Resource Population Ecology Model and Implications for Indigenous Conservation

Population ecology and foraging theory can be combined to simulate the population dynamics of hunter‐gatherers and their prey resources. Such simulation study is important to issues of conservation because many of the population processes that link human foragers and their prey occur over time scales that elude both ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork. To demonstrate, we used the model to examine hunter‐gatherer population dynamics. We focused on a prey characteristic that affects its susceptibility to over‐exploitation: the intrinsic rate of increase, r. We found that forager‐prey systems can stabilize without intentional conservation behavior and that prey “switching,” fall‐back foods, and in certain circumstances, a higher r contribute to resource species persistence. Furthermore, a prey’s vulnerability to local depletion or extinction may depend on the demographic characteristics of the suite of resources harvested along with it. The model can serve as a “null hypothesis” for examining intentional resource conservation and presents points in concordance with, as well as divergent from, tenets in conservation biology. In particular, we discuss the implications of these findings for indigenous resource conservation in Amazonia (e.g., the overhunting of large primates and avifauna and the adoption of new procurement technologies) as well as the “Pleistocene Overkill Hypothesis.”Modelo de Ecología Poblacional Forraje‐Recurso y sus Implicaciones en la Conservación LocalLa ecología de poblaciones y la teoría de forraje se puede combinar para investigar la dinámica poblacional entre cazadores‐recolectores y sus especies de presa. Este tipo de investigación basada en el uso de simulaciones por computadora es importante para el tema de la conservación del medio, puesto que muchos de los procesos poblacionales entre cazadores‐recolectores y sus presas ocurren a una escala temporal que elude tanto a la etnografía como a la arqueología. Como desmostración, usamos este modelo para examinar la dinámica poblacional de cazadores‐recolectores. Nos concentramos en una característica de las presas que afecta su susceptibilidad de sobre‐explotación: el ritmo intrínseco de crecimiento, r. Comprobamos que el sistema de cazador‐recolector puede estabilizarse sin una conducta deliberada de conservación y que cambios de presa, comida de emergencia y algunas veces, un valor de r mayor, contribuyen a la persistencia de especies. La vulnerabilidad de una presa al decremento local o extinción puede depender de las características demográficas de las especies que están siendo recolectadas junto con la presa. Este modelo se puede usar como una “hipótesis nula” para una investigación sobre la conservación intensional de recursos y presenta puntos tanto en concordancia como de divergencia con principios de la biología de la conservación. En particular discutimos las consecuencias de este modelo para la conservación de recursos locales en la Amazonía (i.e., la sobre‐explotación de primates grandes y avifauna y la adopción de nuevas tecnologías) así como la “Hipótesis de la Mortandad Masiva del Pleistoceno.”

Rain Forest Extraction and Conservation in Amazonia

Concern over the fate of the Amazonian rain forest and its peoples has prompted a wave of internationally-sponsored initiatives that promise to conserve the forest while benefiting indigenous peoples. In this paper, the challenges posed by such endeavours are reviewed and a critical synthesis posed of prevailing notions of the rain forest, its peoples, and the economic logic of forest product extraction and trade that underlie current conservation practice and applied research. The authors' critique points to three key issues that require much closer attention by both NGOs and scholars: the microeconomic and geographic factors shaping resource-use decisions of forest peasant households; the fluid and endogenous nature of social relations that arise around forest product extraction; and the role of life cycle factors and historical experiences in shaping resource-use patterns of forest peasant households. Research on these issues promises to provide a firmer foundation for conservation and a clearer understanding of the real prospects and problems posed by forest product extraction for economic development and rain forest conservation in Amazonia.

Amazonian conservation in a changing world

Prioritization of areas for conservation in Amazonia is based on estimates of modern biodiversity and the distribution of endemic species. The refugial hypothesis provided an important conceptual basis for understanding the effects of climatic change on these reserve areas. The hypothesis predicted that ice-age aridity in Amazonia would have been the dominant force that resulted in modern patterns of endemism. However, recent paleoecological data indicate that cooling, rather than drying, was the predominant climatic influence on the ice-age Amazon forests, and this leads to a re-evaluation of forces structuring Amazonian diversity patterns. Modern forest clearance may result in a warmer and drier Amazon basin; conditions now seen to be without past analog. In the light of these data, assumptions regarding the survival of forest isolates in a drying landscape must be revised. Habitat functions in the sense of hydrogeomorphic processes and climate are recommended as conservation goals rather than explicitly attempting to save biodiversity. Reserve areas should be established in the expectation of future climatic change and be large enough to allow the ensuing migration of species.

Land use change in the Amazon estuary: Patterns of caboclo settlement and landscape management

Landsat TM scenes for 1985 and 1991 are used to produce a georeferenced map of land cover and land use for an area of the Amazon estuary inhabited by three populations of caboclos with distinct patterns of land use. This information is combined in a geographic information system with ethnographic and survey research carried out over the past 5 years to develop representative spectral “signatures” which permit measurement and differentiation of land uses and the detection of change even between small areas of managed floodplain forest and unmanaged forest, and between three distinct age/growth classes of secondary succession following deforestation. Implementation of these procedures permit the scaling up or down of research at different resolutions. Three distinct patterns of land use are examined with differential impact on the environment. Mechanized agriculture at one site has eliminated virtually all the mature upland forest and is now dominated by secondary successional vegetation. The more traditional system of diversified land use at the next site shows a subtle cycling of flooded forest to managed palm forest through time in response to the price of palm fruit and cycling in the use of fallow land. A third site, based on palm fruit extractivism, shows minimal changes in land cover due to persistent specialization on management of flooded forest extraction. There is little evidence that the community with the greatest impact on forest cover is any better off economically than the two communities which have minimal impact on the landscape. This study suggests how a balance between use and conservation in Amazonia may be achieved in floodplain and estuarine areas, and the effectiveness of monitoring these types of land cover from satellite platforms.

Forests and conservation in Amazon : Lamentation for Mr. KISE's death

Forests and conservation in Amazon : Lamentation for Mr. KISE's death

Conservation in Amazonia

Abstract Amazonian environments are being disrupted and their animal and plant species endangered as a result of intense development of resources throughout the region. Current conservation measures include several national parks and reserves and legislation for the protection of wildlife. The majority of the parks and reserves are located on the periphery of the Amazon region and most of the diversity of Amazonian communities is not at present protected. Legislation for wildlife protection is poorly enforced and there is inadequate information on the distribution and status of threatened species. Conservation efforts are being stimulated by an Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Management of the Amazon Flora and Fauna. In Brazil, an extensive planning programme is underway for the establishment of a network of parks and reserves in the Amazon region. This paper reviews conservation measures and plans in Amazonia and provides some recommendations for future conservation strategies.