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Herpetology = Amphibians and Reptiles

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Herpetologists study amphibians and reptiles. Their eyes are attuned to frogs, salamanders, caecilians, lizards, crocodiles and turtles, and their hands are trained to catch these animals without hurting them or getting hurt themselves. The herpetologists are normally the ‘nightowls’ of the rapid inventories and this time was no exception. In Ere-Campuya-Algodón, Pablo Venegas and Giussepe Gagliardi, our two Peruvian herpetologists, “started” their days at in the early evening when they ventured into the forest looking for frogs and snakes. With a potent headlamp and roving eyes scanning the leaf-litter, branches and swamps, Pablo and Guissepe explored the forest trails until well past midnight.

Their job is to identify which species are common, which ones are not protected elsewhere, and which ones are rare, endangered, or specialized on fragile ecosystems.

In the mornings, while the rest of the team was already in the forest, they would get some extra sleep, have a late breakfast and then head out to the trails to find diurnal frogs and lizards basking in the sun. Back at camp, Pablo and Giussepe identify and photograph all the amphibians and reptiles that they find. Snakes are often the ‘cool’, must-see animals, and the local assistants look forward to seeing the latest finds from the researchers crazy enough to handle snakes.

Ichthyology = Fishes

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Ichthyologists study fishes. During our 25th Rapid Inventory, Javier Maldonado (Colombia) and Roberto Quispe (Peru) explored as many bodies of water as possible, including lagoons, rivers, creeks and palm swamps, to create a solid list of the diversity of fishes in the area.

Javier and Roberto were immersed up to their necks in water every day and most nights, to find as many diurnal and nocturnal fishes as possible, including ones potentially new to science or never before reported for this region.

Both Roberto and Javier agree that “the tastiest Amazon fish is the corvina (Plagioscion squamosissimus)” and assert that, like any good tropical ichthyologist, they are constantly battling foot rot.

The Scientists

Scientists on rapid inventories love what they do. Our team is a mix of experts who have been working in the tropics for more than 30 years and younger researchers that are the up-and-coming experts in their fields. They start the day before dawn, around 4:30 am, to record the morning bird chorus; walk 8-10 miles a day looking for every fertile plant with either fruits or flowers; jump into creeks, ponds, rivers or swamps to collect fishes of all kinds, sizes and colors; walk the trails tirelessly looking forward to encounters with jaguars or a group of wild peccaries; roam the forest every night hoping to find poisonous snakes and beautiful frogs, and work in remote communities where they visit chacras (community gardens), share in the daily life of local families, and speak with residents about their vision of the future.

After three weeks of fieldwork, they pull together their diverse experiences to paint a broad-brush picture of this specific region of the Amazon. Together, they are working to help protect the vast biodiversity of the Amazon and ensure a sustainable future for the local communities.

Learn more about the team that studies fishes, amphibians and reptiles, plants, mammals, birds, geology and hydrology, or the social team.

RI 25: Ere, Campuya and Algodón

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Our 25th Rapid Inventory explored the watersheds of the Ere, Campuya, and upper Algodón rivers. The waters of these rivers start their journey in the northern Peruvian Amazon where they drain lush tropical forests that grow on poor nutrient soils. After a few hundred miles the Ere, Campuya and Algodón join the Putumayo river in the border between Colombia and Perú. Once in Brazil, the waters of Putumayo join the mighty Amazon river to continue the journey east towards the Atlantic Ocean.

The area is exceedingly remote. However, in the early 20th century the region was a bustling center of rubber extraction, with terrible mistreatment of local indigenous people. Since then, smaller-scale economic booms (e.g., rubber, timber, animal skins and coca) have continued to drive resource extraction in the region. Until now, the watersheds of the Ere-Campuya-upper Algodón were entirely unknown to science.

In October of 2012, our multidisciplinary team of scientists traveled to the Ere-Campuya-Algodón watersheds to evaluate their biological diversity and the social assets in the communities living nearby. The area covers more than 2.2 million acres, twice the size of Rhode Island and a little bigger than lake Titicaca on the Peru-Bolivia border. Conserving the Ere-Campuya-Algodón landscape would complete a corridor of almost 50 million acres of conservation areas and indigenous lands along the Putumayo River along the Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador borders, spanning from Yasuní and Cuyabeno in Ecuador, along dozens of areas in Peru and Colombia on either side of the Putumayo, to Amacayacu in Colombia.

What is a Rapid Inventory?

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Rapid Inventories are scientific expeditions to evaluate the conservation potential of remote and unexplored areas. Our team includes expert biologists who specialize in different organisms (plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, mammals), geologists who understand the deep history of the landscape, as well as anthropologists and social scientists who identify the social strengths, resource use, and aspirations of local residents.

After three weeks of tireless work exploring the jungle and working in local communities, our scientists present their results to the local residents and then to regional and national decision-makers. The results drawn from the fieldwork are integrated into a set of practical recommendations to protect the area and the quality of life of local people.

Since 1999 our Rapid Inventories have uncovered more than 150 species new to science and provided the scientific underpinnings to protect more than 20 million acres of wilderness areas.