Amazonia Research Articles

Enhanced Detection of Artisanal Small-Scale Mining with Spectral and Textural Segmentation of Landsat Time Series

Artisanal small-scale mines (ASMs) in the Amazon Rainforest are an important cause of deforestation, forest degradation, biodiversity loss, sedimentation in rivers, and mercury emissions. Satellite image data are widely used in environmental decision-making to monitor changes in the land surface, but ASMs are difficult to map from space. ASMs are small, irregularly shaped, unevenly distributed, and confused (spectrally) with other land clearance types. To address this issue, we developed a reliable and efficient ASM detection method for the Tapajós River Basin of Brazil—an important gold mining region of the Amazon Rainforest. We enhanced detection in three key ways. First, we used the time-series segmentation (LandTrendr) Google Earth Engine (GEE) Application Programming Interface to map the pixel-wise trajectory of natural vegetation disturbance and recovery on an annual basis with a 2000 to 2019 Landsat image time series. Second, we segmented 26 textural features in addition to 5 spectral features to account for the high spatial heterogeneity in ASM pixels. Third, we trained and tested a Random Forest model to detect ASMs after eliminating irrelevant and redundant features with the Variable Selection Using Random Forests “ensemble of ensembles” technique. The out-of-bag error and overall accuracy of the final Random Forest was 3.73 and 92.6%, which are comparable to studies mapping large industrial mines with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and LandTrendr. The most important feature in our study was NDVI, followed by textural features in the near and shortwave infrared. Our work paves the way for future ASM regulation through large area monitoring from space with free and open-source GEE and operational satellites. Studies with sufficient computational resources can improve ASM monitoring with advanced sensors consisting of spectral narrow bands (Sentinel-2, Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) and deep learning.

Entomophagy: A sustainable food alternative to save planet

Climate change not only fringes rising average temperatures but shifting wildlife populations, rising seas, extreme weather events and other impacts. These changes are due to addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere due to impact of human activities. One of the important human activities which are a major contributor of greenhouse gas is Animal Agriculture. Meat consumption is responsible for releasing greenhouse gases such as methane, CO, and nitrous oxide. Livestock production accounts for 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, with beef having the highest footprint due to large amounts of methane that an average cow produces. Agriculture accounts for 92% of the freshwater footprint of humanity; almost 35% relates to animal farming. The production of meat is directly and indirectly related to the loss of forests in South America, Amazon Rainforest and other areas of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. And many species face extinction or are under threat due to the destruction of natural environments. Sustainable alternative to going meat-free is entomophagy or insect farming which produces about 100 times less greenhouse gases per kg of mass organism gain. Edible insects like grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms are rich in protein and contain significantly higher sources of minerals such as iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium than beef. Regardless of its environmental benefits, entomophagy comes with its unique set of challenges.

Repeat GEDI footprints measure the effects of tropical forest disturbances

More of the Amazon rainforest is disturbed each year than completely deforested, but the impact of these disturbances on the carbon cycle remains poorly understood. Recent algorithmic advances using optical and radar remote sensing have improved detection of disturbances at fine spatiotemporal resolution, but quantifying changes in forest structure and biomass associated with these detected disturbances has proven challenging. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), a spaceborne lidar mission collecting data from 2019 to 2023, provides an opportunity to address this problem. GEDI captured billions of measurements of forest height, plant area, and understory structure within ∼25-m diameter footprints scattered across the tropics. Though the instrument had no guaranteed repeat cycle, it sometimes sampled nearby locations twice; some of these spatially near-coincident footprints happened to measure forest structure before and after a detected disturbance, providing information on how disturbance affected aboveground biomass. In this study, we developed an efficient general-purpose open-source pipeline for identifying spatially coincident footprints, which is a computationally complex task, and used the pipeline to find over 13,700 footprint pairs with intervening disturbance events across the Amazon biome. We also identified a set of ∼65,000 spatially near-coincident footprint pairs that lacked an intervening disturbance but came from regions with similar disturbance threat; these provided a control dataset to evaluate the effectiveness of estimating forest structure and biomass changes with nearby footprints. Analysis of this Amazon-wide dataset demonstrated that GEDI was able to measure statistically significant canopy height and biomass deficits following non-stand-replacing disturbances as small as 900 m2 (30 m × 30 m). GEDI's unique three-dimensional view of forest structure also reflected the effects of different intensities of fire disturbance, including 20% of burned areas where the upper canopy retained most of its height, but the understory suffered substantial foliage losses. Finally, we modeled the relationship between Landsat and Sentinel-1 disturbance detection parameters and GEDI-estimated percent biomass loss, showing that certain satellite-derived intensity metrics are correlated with increasing biomass loss and identifying temporal trends in biomass loss and recovery following disturbance. This work represents an important step towards the development of a pan-tropical, spatially explicit system for tracking carbon losses and structural changes arising from forest disturbance.

Detection of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia bacteria in humans, wildlife, and ticks in the Amazon rainforest

Tick-borne bacteria of the genera Ehrlichia and Anaplasma cause several emerging human infectious diseases worldwide. In this study, we conduct an extensive survey for Ehrlichia and Anaplasma infections in the rainforests of the Amazon biome of French Guiana. Through molecular genetics and metagenomics reconstruction, we observe a high indigenous biodiversity of infections circulating among humans, wildlife, and ticks inhabiting these ecosystems. Molecular typing identifies these infections as highly endemic, with a majority of new strains and putative species specific to French Guiana. They are detected in unusual rainforest wild animals, suggesting they have distinctive sylvatic transmission cycles. They also present potential health hazards, as revealed by the detection of Candidatus Anaplasma sparouinense in human red blood cells and that of a new close relative of the human pathogen Ehrlichia ewingii, Candidatus Ehrlichia cajennense, in the tick species that most frequently bite humans in South America. The genome assembly of three new putative species obtained from human, sloth, and tick metagenomes further reveals the presence of major homologs of Ehrlichia and Anaplasma virulence factors. These observations converge to classify health hazards associated with Ehrlichia and Anaplasma infections in the Amazon biome as distinct from those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Application of advanced causal analyses to identify processes governing secondary organic aerosols

Understanding how different physical and chemical atmospheric processes affect the formation of fine particles has been a persistent challenge. Inferring causal relations between the various measured features affecting the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles is complicated since correlations between variables do not necessarily imply causality. Here, we apply a state-of-the-art information transfer measure coupled with the Koopman operator framework to infer causal relations between isoprene epoxydiol SOA (IEPOX-SOA) and different chemistry and meteorological variables derived from detailed regional model predictions over the Amazon rainforest. IEPOX-SOA represents one of the most complex SOA formation pathways and is formed by the interactions between natural biogenic isoprene emissions and anthropogenic emissions affecting sulfate, acidity and particle water. Since the regional model captures the known relations of IEPOX-SOA with different chemistry and meteorological features, their simulated time series implicitly include their causal relations. We show that our causal model successfully infers the known major causal relations between total particle phase 2-methyl tetrols (the dominant component of IEPOX-SOA over the Amazon) and input features. We provide the first proof of concept that the application of our causal model better identifies causal relations compared to correlation and random forest analyses performed over the same dataset. Our work has tremendous implications, as our methodology of causal discovery could be used to identify unknown processes and features affecting fine particles and atmospheric chemistry in the Earth’s atmosphere.

How Governance Can Contribute to Amazon Biome Conservation?

Forest conservation has transcended environmental concerns and become a determining factor in global social and economic issues. Therefore, setting forest conservation goals, including recovery and/or reforestation, is critical to help mitigate global warming and climate change. Although Amazonian countries have forestry policies for forest conservation, the forest continues to be degraded. The aim of this article is to suggest a regional governance model for the nine countries that share the Amazon rainforest. The thesis of the paper is that the definition of a common legal basis for the nine countries can contribute to forest conservation. Through qualitative analysis of exploratory and descriptive variables, the main topics related to the proposal of a governance model were identified. Multi-level governance contributes to the environmental conservation process by creating an environment to engage local, national, and international stakeholders from diverse groups. As a result of this paper, we suggest the creation of a supranational governance, composed and regulated by each of the nine countries of the Amazon biome and having as reference the AFR100 initiative. The proposition and creation of governance among Amazonian countries are fundamental for achieving the objectives for the conservation of the biome; such governance must take into account existing public policies, institutional mechanisms, and financial commitments. Although the Amazon countries present a framework of policies and commitments that seek to preserve the biome, the reality is that forest degradation through deforestation with negative effects on the climate and on the communities that depend on the standing forest still exists.

Drought and radiation explain fluctuations in Amazon rainforest greenness during the 2015–2016 drought

Abstract. The 2015–2016 Amazon drought was characterized by below-average regional precipitation for an entire year, which distinguishes it from the dry-season-only droughts in 2005 and 2010. Studies of vegetation indices (VIs) derived from optical remote sensing over the Amazonian forests indicated three stages in canopy response during the 2015–2016 drought, with below-average greenness during the onset and end of the drought, and above-average greenness during the intervening months. To date, a satisfactory explanation for this broad temporal pattern has not been found. A better understanding of rainforest behaviors during this unusually long drought should help predict their response to future droughts. We hypothesized that negative VI anomalies could be caused by water and heat stress exceeding the tolerance ranges of the rainforest. To test our hypothesis, based on monthly observations of terrestrial water storage (TWS), land surface temperature (LST), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) for January 2003 to December 2016, we proposed an approach to categorize regions into two groups: (1) those exceeding normal hydrological and thermal ranges and (2) those within normal ranges. Accordingly, regions exceeding normal ranges during different stages of the 2015–2016 event were delineated. The results showed a gradual southward shift in these regions: from the northeastern Amazon during August to October 2015 to the north–central part during November 2015 to February 2016 and finally to the southern Amazon in July 2016. Over these regions exceeding normal ranges during droughts, negative VI anomalies were expected, irrespective of radiation anomalies. Over the regions within normal ranges, VI anomalies were assumed to respond positively to radiation anomalies, as is expected under normal conditions. We found that our proposed approach can explain more than 70 % of the observed spatiotemporal patterns in VI anomalies during the 2015–2016 drought. These results suggest that our “exceeding normal ranges”-based approach combining (i) water storage, (ii) temperature, and (iii) atmospheric moisture demand drivers can reasonably identify the most likely drought-affected regions at monthly to seasonal timescales. Using observation-based hydrological and thermal condition thresholds can help with interpreting the response of the Amazon rainforest to future drought events.

Salvage technoscience: Conserving and extracting the value of the Amazon Rainforest

Very few forests take up as much space in contemporary Western imagination as the Amazon. It is the archetypical mythological forest that many people want to save and even more people want to exploit. Over the years, it has been the object of multiple campaigns to ‘save the rainforest’ from resource extraction both within South America and beyond, within scientific communities as well as broader publics. This article addresses a concern with how to extract the resources of the Amazon Forest in ways that are more sustainable than past and contemporary logging, mining and farming. This concern is promoted by Brazilian scientists who have allied themselves with well-intended tech industry initiatives and small-scale entrepreneurs. We refer to this combination of conservation with extraction as salvage technoscience, an approach currently dominating the struggle for the resources of the Amazon by attempting to reconcile the opposing views of the forest as an economic asset and as an object to be preserved. Our contribution thus demonstrates the interwoven nature of capitalist extraction and environmental conservation under the auspices of technoscientific progress.

Geographical and seasonal variations of gravity wave activities in the upper mesosphere measured by space-borne imaging of molecular oxygen nightglow

Geographical and seasonal variations of gravity wave events in the upper mesosphere were investigated using the nightglow imaging data obtained by the Visible and near-Infrared Spectral Imager (VISI) on the Ionosphere, Mesosphere, upper Atmosphere and Plasmasphere (IMAP) onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The nadir-imaging data of the O2(0–0) atmospheric band (762 nm) with the typical emission peak around 95 km altitude was used to investigate small-scale waves (horizontal wavelengths less than ~ 200 km) on a global scale. To detect gravity wave events, the variance of high-pass filtered nightglow images within a local 100 km radius was evaluated, with a threshold set at three times the standard deviation from the average variance of the background level. A data screening algorithm that evaluates the variance of upwelling contamination light emission was also introduced to remove contaminated data. Applying the variance filter and data screening algorithm to a nearly 3-year data set, from November 2012 to August 2015, occurrence maps of wave events for four seasons were derived. The occurrence maps show a higher frequency of wave events in winter high latitudes (> 40° N/S), considerably attributed to gravity wave activity associated with the polar night jet. Hot spots were observed near orographic sources in winter high latitudes, including the eastern part of North America, Europe, and the southern Andes. In the summer hemisphere, hot spots were detected at mid-to-high latitudes such as North America, Europe, and the eastern side of the Eurasian continent, and at equatorial latitudes just above the intertropical convection zone (ITCZ). They are likely gravity waves from deep convection that arise from mid-latitude summertime thunderstorms and the ITCZ, respectively. During the equinox seasons, hot spots were detected near convective sources such as the Amazon Rainforest, Congo Rainforest, and the Indochina peninsula.Graphical

Life Cycle of Precipitating Cloud Systems from Synergistic Satellite Observations: Evolution of Macrophysical Properties and Precipitation Statistics from Geostationary Cloud Tracking and GPM Active and Passive Microwave Measurements

Abstract Observations of clouds and precipitation in the microwave domain from the active dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and the passive Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) onboard the GPM Core Observatory satellite are used in synergy with cloud tracking information derived from infrared imagery from the GOES-13 and Meteosat-7 geostationary satellites for analysis of the life cycle of precipitating cloud systems, in terms of temporal evolution of their macrophysical characteristics, in several oceanic and continental regions of the tropics. The life cycle of each one of the several hundred thousand cloud systems tracked during the 2-yr (2015–16) analysis period is divided into five equal-duration stages between initiation and dissipation. The average cloud size, precipitation intensity, precipitation top height, and convective and stratiform precipitating fractions are documented at each stage of the life cycle for different cloud categories (based upon lifetime duration). The average life cycle dynamics is found remarkably homogeneous across the different regions and is consistent with previous studies: systems peak in size around midlife; precipitation intensity and convective fraction tend to decrease continuously from the initiation stage to the dissipation. Over the three continental regions, Amazonia (AMZ), central Africa (CAF), and Sahel (SAH), at the early stages of clouds’ life cycle, precipitation estimates from the passive GMI instrument are systematically found to be 15%–40% lower than active radar estimates. By highlighting stage-dependent biases in state-of-the-art passive microwave precipitation estimates over land, we demonstrate the potential usefulness of cloud tracking information for improving retrievals and suggest new directions for the synergistic use of geostationary and low-Earth-orbiting satellite observations.

Habitat use of Amazonian birds varies by age and foraging guild along a disturbance gradient.

Patterns of habitat use directly influence a species' fitness, yet for many species an individual's age can influence patterns of habitat use. However, in tropical rainforests, which host the greatest terrestrial species diversity, little is known about how age classes of different species use different adjacent habitats of varying quality. We use long-term mist net data from the Amazon rainforest to assess patterns of habitat use among adult, adolescent (teenage) and young understory birds in forest fragments, primary and secondary forest at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in Brazil. Insectivore adults were most common in primary forest, adolescents were equally likely in primary and secondary forest, and all ages were the least common in forest fragments. In contrast to insectivores, frugivores and omnivores showed no differences among all three habitat types. Our results illustrate potential ideal despotic distributions among breeding populations of some guilds of understory birds where adult insectivores may competitively exclude adolescent individuals from primary forest. Secondary forest recovery appears to hold promise as a breeding habitat for frugivore and omnivore species but only as a pre-breeding habitat for insectivores, but as the forest ages, the demographic structure of bird populations should match that of primary forest.

Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Human Health in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa, and Amazonas, Brazil: A Narrative Review

Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Human Health in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa, and Amazonas, Brazil: A Narrative Review

INFLUENCE OF SITES ON THE PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NATIVE TROPICAL WOODS

The Amazon rainforest displays wide ecological diversity, reflected in its wood variation. The study evaluated the influence of different locations on the properties of wood from native tropical species extracted from the Brazilian Amazon. The most frequent species in the locations were selected, and a total of 104 trees were extracted. The logs were sawed breakdown to make beams (50 × 110 × 2,000 mm). The wood density and mechanical resistance of these samples were determined. The wood density ranged of 0.25-1.00 g/cm3, modulus of elasticity and rupture in static bending ranged of 5,982-19,025 MPa and 35-204 MPa, respectively. For compressive strength parallel to the grain, the range was 24-111 MPa; the strength of wood compressed parallel was 20-245 MPa, and the shear strength was 50-245 MPa. The study detected differences in the physical and mechanical properties of the woods regarding the origin of the sites (Amazonas-Pará/Brazil), with the modulus of elasticity and the wood density showing the greatest variations.

Integrating environmental conservation and public health strategies to combat zoonotic disease emergence: a call to action from the Amazon rainforest.

Integrating environmental conservation and public health strategies to combat zoonotic disease emergence: a call to action from the Amazon rainforest.

New species and records of Zebragryllus Desutter-Grandcolas & Cadena-Castañeda, 2014 (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Gryllinae) from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest

Zebragryllus Desutter-Grandcolas & Cadena-Castañeda, 2014 is a Neotropical genus of field crickets that inhabits the leaf litter of the Amazon rainforest. The genus has six species and is characterized by the distinct ‘zebra’ pattern displayed by some of them. The species are recorded in French Guiana, Peru, and Colombia. Here, we describe two new species of the genus from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, the first record of the genus for Brazil. We expand the records of Z. guianensis Desutter-Grandcolas, 2014 and Z. nouragui Desutter-Grandcolas, 2014 to Brazil. We also describe but do not name two females corresponding to two new species, provide an up-to-date key for species of Zebragryllus, and discuss the potential distribution for the genus.

A new species of Thrixopelma (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae) from southern Peru

ABSTRACT This work aims to describe a new species of Thrixopelma Schmidt, 1994 from southcentral Peru in the Department of Cusco. Thrixopelma choquequirao sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from congeneric species by the low number of labial cuspules, a very long palpal tibia, morphology of the male palpal bulb and female spermathecae. Currently the genus Thrixopelma comprises seven formally described species which inhabit Perú and Ecuador, distributed in Amazonian rainforest, Coastal Dry Forest, and Andean Dry Forest.

Review Book Of “Sacha Inchi : a Rich Nutrient Superfood from Amazon.” by Tresno Saras, Tiram Media Publisher, 2023

This book will discuss the history and culture of using sacha inchi, how to process sacha inchi into healthy food and drink products, and the potential for developing sacha inchi as a raw material for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Sacha Inchi, otherwise known as Inca beans or Inca Peanut, is a plant native to South America that grows well in the Amazon Region. Recently, Sacha Inchi has become increasingly popular as a nutrient-rich superfood. In the first chapter In the characteristics of the sacha inchi plant. The author explains that Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) is a plant native to South America, mainly found in the Amazon rainforest region. This plant is known as a superfood plant because of its high nutritional content.

Evaluation of the nutritional potential of peach palm flour and its application in crunchy snacks

The pupunheira (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) is a palm tree native to the Amazon rainforest, and its fruits have high nutritional quality and are highly appreciated by the population where the fruits occur. One of the ways of processing this raw material is the production of flour, which expands the possibilities of industrial application. Therefore, the objective of this study was to produce peach palm fruit flour, evaluate its physical-chemical, properties technological, antioxidant activity, and carotenoid content, elaborate snack-type biscuit formulations with different concentrations of peach palm flour in substitution for corn flakes, and evaluate the physical-chemical characteristics and carotenoid content of the biscuits. Peach palm flour had low moisture content (6.15%), protein (4.82%), and fiber (5.07%); however, it had a considerable carbohydrate content (77.62%), energy value (386,84 kcal), and carotenoids. The technological properties showed a high rate of water and oil absorption and emulsifying activity; however, it did not show foaming capacity or gel formation. The replacement of corn flakes by peach palm flour showed an increase in fiber, ash, lipids, and carotenoids and intensified the orange color of the cookies.

Ayahuasca ceremonies, relationality, and inner-outer transformations to sustainability. Evidence from Takiwasi Center in Peru

ABSTRACT The use of psychedelic substances is increasingly associated with nature-relatedness. We explore whether entheogenic uses of ayahuasca in settings co-produced between Indigenous and Western knowledges may also foster relationality and sustainability transformations across ontology, praxis, and epistemology. A survey with 74 English-speaking individuals who attended Amazonian healing ceremonies at the Takiwasi Center in Peru, along with 11 semi-structured interviews and a discussion circle revealed unexpected personal shifts towards relationality. Beyond the expected increase in nature-relatedness, participants also reported boundary dissolution and changes in their perceptions of self, leading them to experience nature and non-human beings as having spiritual or human-like agency. The blurring of perceived boundaries between themselves and nature also challenged the materialist ontologies in which they had been educated and socialized. In terms of both epistemologies and praxis, co-produced ayahuasca ceremonies enhanced relational thinking and embodiment of relationality. Inner-outer transformations ensued from the post-ceremonial integration of the ‘plant’s teachings’ into participants’ daily lives. We discuss our findings’ contributions to the emerging field of inner transformations and the relational turn in sustainability. Potential sustainability benefits of scaling plant-based ceremonies need to be measured against their impacts on the Amazon rainforest and its biocultures.

Resilience of Aboveground Biomass of Secondary Forests Following the Abandonment of Gold Mining Activity in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Amazon rainforests are critical for providing a wide range of ecosystem services. In the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon; however, goldmining activities are causing severe soil degradation and forest loss. We analyzed aboveground biomass (AGB), forest structure, and species diversity recovery during secondary succession in 179 forest plots. Our study provides the first field-based quantification of AGB recovery following the abandonment by two types of goldmining (heavy machinery and suction pumping) in Madre de Dios (Peru). We found that successional secondary forests in areas subjected to suction pumping were more resilient than those in areas subjected to heavy machinery. After 20 years, mean AGB in suction pumping mining areas had reached 56% of reference forest AGB, while in areas of heavy machinery mining it was only 18%. Mining type, stand age, and distance from the forest edge had a significant effect on AGB. The influence of the distance from the forest edge on AGB varies according to mining type because the effects of species diversity on AGB are mediated by the distance from the forest edge. Our results clearly showed the dynamics of AGB recovery across a secondary succession after goldmining, and the contrasting responses of AGB between the two mining types. Our study disentangles the importance of key factors in forest recovery after mining and improves understanding of the resilience of biomass accumulation in these highly degraded ecosystems.