Working with communities in the Amazon
Dr Richard Bodmer, Pablo Puertas and Tula Fang have been working as a team in the Peruvian Amazon since the early 1980s. Tula and Pablo were both born in Iquitos, Peru, in the heart of the Amazon. Pablo grew up on the Yavari River where his father worked as a school teacher at a small village outpost. Both Pablo and Tula studied biology at the National University of the Peruvian Amazon, where they researched primates for their undergraduate theses; Tula studied tamarins and Pablo night monkeys.
Meanwhile, Richard was trampling through the Ituri forests studying the Okapi for his Masters degree at the University of Illinois. Having caught the tropical fever he decided to do his Doctoral studies in the Amazon forests while studying at the University of Cambridge. Shortly after arriving in Iquitos, Richard met up with Tula and Pablo and accompanied a group of primatologists led by Dr Paul Garber, who was conducting an Earthwatch expedition to the Rio Blanco in March 1984.
From the beginning, the scientists' careers had links to Earthwatch. Richard's studies on the tapir, peccaries and brocket deer, and the primates of Tula and Pablo involved the Cocama Indians and river folk from the very start. Working with the local people on conservation, the three scientists were instrumental in setting up the first regional community reserve in Peru, an area covering more than 3,000 square kilometres. Richard, Pablo and Tula understood that conservation would only be successful if it included the traditional cultures and their use of the forests and rivers.
Bushmeat hunting was on the top of their agenda and a series of long-term studies were undertaken to find wildlife management strategies that incorporated the realities of local people and the animal populations. Studies included ecological analysis of the large mammals, their population dynamics, feeding and habitat use, along with studies on the cultural and socio-economics of bushmeat hunting by local people. During this time, spanning nearly 25 years, Pablo completed his Masters at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and Tula her Masters at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent.
The wildlife management studies conducted by the scientists have influenced the management and creation of numerous protected areas, helped set up conservation of Amazon landscapes outside of protected areas, and helped develop a community of scholars and conservationists dedicated to wildlife management throughout Latin America, and of course, the Amazon. While the news of deforestation in the Amazon is gloomy, the areas where Richard, Pablo and Tula have been working now have more wildlife and more intact forest. But there are still many issues to confront and many questions to be answered. Through the years the scientists have helped to train more than a thousand students from different countries, always with the philosophy to provide hands-on experience deep within the Amazon forests. Over the past three years Richard, Tula and Pablo have also been involving Earthwatch volunteers in their studies and conservation initiatives. The range of species being studied has expanded over the years and now includes macaws, fish, dolphins, otters, game birds, caimans, and of course, the monkeys, tapir, peccaries and deer.
The scientists understand that the vast expanses of Amazon forest will only remain intact if conservation programmes are successfully implemented. The scientists' long-term vision has been to set up biodiversity conservation using a combination of community-based, protected area, and landscape strategies based on wildlife conservation. The research and conservation activities of the project use an interdisciplinary approach to find a balance between the needs of the indigenous people and the conservation of animals and plants. The project is helping to conserve wildlife, not only for saving the biodiversity of the Amazon, but also as a means of helping the indigenous people who rely on these resources for their food and shelter.
Richard, Pablo and Tula have also been interested in historical conservation and have combined these interests with biodiversity conservation. The project uses a restored rubber boom epic boat, the Ayapua, for research activities. Unfortunately, after the crash of the rubber boom many of the steam ships were either scrapped or converted for other uses. Unlike many other converted ships the Ayapua still retained many of its original features and became part of a restoration project to help save the vanishing ships of the rubber boom. In 2005 the ship was restored as close as possible to its original splendour and is part of a historic conservation effort in the Peruvian Amazon. The Ayapua now journeys to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve and the Yavari River where it is used as a scientific vessel for research and conservation.
Richard, Tula and Pablo are using wildlife monitoring to evaluate conservation strategies and make suggestions for improving conservation actions. For example, the success of local community involvement in the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve has seen recovering populations of key wildlife species, such as the large-bodied primates, the blue and gold macaws, the Amazonian river turtles, and the black caiman.
However, the scientists' research clearly shows that species are often in competitive interactions, and recovery of one species will actually impact the population of other species. For example, large-bodied primates are in competition with each other, and outcompete smaller species. Likewise, the recovery of the black caiman is resulting in a decline of common caiman. Conservation actions need to take into account the impacts of being successful. It may lead to an increase in the species being conserved, and in turn lead to changes in the animal community structure and a decrease in competing species. Monitoring of wildlife will help determine the most appropriate conservation actions.
Earthwatch volunteers help the scientists to study and monitor the major taxa of large-bodied animals during riverboat expeditions deep within the Peruvian Amazon. Land transects are walked through the forest to count primates, ungulates and game birds. Early morning point counts are used to census macaws. River transects study the dolphin populations, and catch per unit effort is used in lakes, channels and rivers to survey fish using nets. At night, caimans are counted using spot lights and morphological information is collected on caimans captured and released. Depending on the site and season, surveys are also conducted on the giant river otter, Amazon River turtles, large cats and manatees.
Report by Dr Richard Bodmer, May 2009.
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