Each year Rainforest Expedition’s hosts undergraduate students from Stanford University, who are provided with all food and accommodation at the lodges where they are based. Traditionally, the research has been based out of the community lodge Posada Amazonas, where work concentrated on the impacts of the ecotourism enterprise on lifestyles and attitudes.
A summary of a publication by Donald J. Brightsmith, Director of the Tambopata Macaw Project: Title: Rainforest Expeditions and Earthwatch as funding partners for macaw (Ara spp.) Research in southeastern Peru Ecotourism has been touted as an effective way to conserve natural areas by providing employment for local people and generating income for conservation. However, ecotourism can also effectively support scientific research. In addition, working with paying volunteers can provide funding and manpower for research projects.
Ecotourism can capture biodiversity values and provide incentives for conservation, and many integrated conservation and development projects include an ecotourism component. One key assumption behind this strategy is that ecotourism businesses can achieve financial viability. An example of this is ecotourism lodge ‘Casa Matsiguenka’, owned by an indigenous Matsigenka population in Manu National Park.
A recent study of the diet and foraging ecology of a community of six parrots in western Costa Rica has shown that all had a varied diet with clear seasonal changes in preferred food items, mostly due to changes in plant fruiting and flowering patterns. Larger-bodied parrots consumed more seeds and smaller-bodied parakeets consumed more fruit pulp. Leaves, bark, and lichen were also consumed. Most parrots consumed more plant species in the dry season when food availability was at its peak.
Maaike Rensing and Susan Zwerver of Van Hall Larenstein, the Netherlands, have finished a report on the importance of bird and mammal claylicks in the Madre de Dios region, Peru for the tourism industry of Rainforest Expeditions. In 2004 a bill was signed to create the Interoceanic Highway across the countries of Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. This road will run across the Tambopata reserve in the Peruvian department of Madre de Dios.
The Economic Promise of Ecotourism for Conservation The following is a summary of the results from the following publication, based on work conducted at the Infierno community and their lodge, Posada Amazonas: Stronza, A., 2007. The economic promise of ecotourism for conservation. Journal of Ecotourism 6, 170–190. Many conservationists have promoted ecotourism as a strategy to protect natural resources while also meeting human needs.
Scientific Names: Tayassu pecari and Tayassu tajacu Distribution & Habitat White lipped (Tayassu pecari ) and collared peccaries are distributed throughout the neotropics. Both find their southern limits in northern Argentina, however the collared peccary extends further north than its counterpart inhabiting the south of the United States against a range that extends to southern Mexico. They inhabit a wide range of habitats from scrub desert to east Andean tropical rainforest.
by Yesenia Quispe Scientific name: Speothos venaticus Spanish names: Perro de monte, zorro o perro vinagre, perro venadero Distribution and Habitat: The bush dog belongs to the dog family and lives in rainforests below 1.500 metres above sea level, from Panama to Paraguay and the northern parts of Argentina. It is widely distributed in Central and South America. However, encounters with bush dogs are rare as they are very sensitive to disturbance and not found in populated areas and areas of deforestation.
Yesenia Quispe The rainforest as a generator of life has become the new focus of environmentalists and ecologist who, in times of irrational exploitation of rainforest resources like wood (especially mahogany), demand its protection and the sustainable use of its resources. The ecological, social and economic value of the Amazonian rainforest has not been appreciated in the past, which is why the new environmental philosophy is to develop the Amazon rainforest with a new sustainable vision.
Alan Lee Many readers will I am sure have heard that the Tambopata is part of a World Biodiversity Hotspot. But what actually is a hotspot? The simple answer is that Biodiversity hotspots are geographic areas that contain high levels of species diversity but are threatened with extinction. Norman Myers in 1988 first identified ten tropical forest “hotspots” characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss.
