Research Summary
Araguaia River valley, starting near Emas National Park in Goiás, Brazil, moving northward to Tocantíns, Brazil - One of the biggest threats to biodiversity is the fragmentation of natural habitat and the resulting isolation of small populations of animals. Small populations face greater risks of extinction, as they generally suffer from reduced genetic diversity, and inbreeding makes them less adaptable to changing conditions and more vulnerable to illnesses. Isolate, inbred populations are more susceptible to succumb entirely to catastrophic events.
The establishment of habitat corridors that provide individual animals with the opportunity to move between habitat patches, thus allowing for genetic exchange between populations, has been cited as one of the most important tools for biodiversity conservation. Large mammals, and especially large, mobile, wide-ranging predators, are particularly dependent on such wildlife corridors. The central Brazilian savannah biome – the Cerrado – has been largely converted to agricultural land over the last four decades. Its large mammals – including maned wolves, jaguars, pumas, tapirs, and many others – are currently suffering from the effects of habitat fragmentation and population isolation.
The Araguaia River, connecting the fragmented Cerrado and the vast wilderness of the Amazonian rainforest, has been identified as one of the best remaining options for providing a protected wildlife corridor to preserve Brazilian biodiversity.
The challenge of the Araguaia River Biodiversity Corridor Program (ARBC) is to preserve the course of the Araguaia River and promote it as a biodiversity corridor in order to perpetuate its biological, economic, and social importance. The specific goal of this project is to investigate how indicator species such as the jaguar, puma, maned-wolf, tapir, giant anteater, giant armadillo, white-lipped peccary, and rhea (an ostrich-like bird), move across the agricultural landscape around Emas National Park. This is particularly important with the rapid expansion of sugar cane in the Cerrado for biofuel production. Our investigations will also enhance the overall understanding of how this crop may (or may not) work as a barrier for the dispersion of these species throughout the Cerrado.
Drs. Leandro Silveira and Anah Jácomo, who have been studying the carnivore communities of Emas National Park for more than 15 years along with many Earthwatch volunteers, will collect the data necessary to evaluate the current status of the Araguaia River and its biodiversity. Later stages of the project will involve recommending and implementing environmental management polices along the corridor as indicated by these early results.
Meet the Scientists
Dr. Leandro Silveira
Jaguar Conservation Fund
Leandro Silveira, born in 1970, has a Ph.D. in Animal Biology from the University of Brasilia (2004) and an M.A. in Ecology from the University of Goiás (1999). He is President of the Jaguar Conservation Fund, a member of the Cat Specialist Group of the IUCN (World Conservation Union), and has been coordinator of the Ecology and Conservation Project of the Carnivores in Emas National Park since 1994. He has been leading Earthwatch volunteers in the field since 2001. Leandro also coordinates jaguar research projects in the Amazon, Pantanal and Caatinga (a semi-arid biome in the northeast of Brazil) regions.
Dr. Anah T. A. Jácomo
Jaguar Conservation Fund
Anah Tereza de Almeida Jácomo, born in 1969, holds a Ph.D. in Animal Biology from the University of Brasilia (2004) and an M.A. in Ecology from the University of Goiás. She has been field manager of the carnivore project at Emas National Park since 1994; she is also deeply involved in the studies of the ecology, management and conservation of tapirs and peccaries in the park and surrounding landscape. Her Ph.D. thesis in ENP focused on white-lipped peccaries, the main prey of the jaguar, and was conducted in parallel with Leandro’s thesis on jaguars (the main predator of the peccary).
Marina Zanin Gregorini
Jaguar Conservation Fund
Marina Zanin Gregorini has a Master’s degree in Ecology from the Federal University of Goiás (2010) and is affiliated with the Jaguar Conservation Fund. She has two years of experience in carnivore research, with particular skills in modeling geographic distribution. Her Master’s thesis involved Jaguar distribution over a disturbed landscape along the Araguaia river. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Federal University of Goiás and her Ph.D. thesis will be carried out on population viability for jaguar.
Natália Mundim Tôrres
Communication Manager
Jaguar Conservation Fund
Natália Mundim Tôrres has a Master’s degree in Animal Biology from the University of Brasilia (2006) and is affiliated with the Jaguar Conservation Fund. She has seven years of continuous experience in carnivore research, with particular skills in landscape analyses of biological data. Her Master’s thesis involved carnivore distribution patterns in the Cerrado grasslands of Brazil. Natália’s tasks within the project include data collection and analysis. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Federal University of Goiás; her Ph.D. thesis involves modeling of jaguar distribution.