Rapid Biological Inventories: Results from the Field : Bolivia 06

Report at a glance | Downloadable files | Acknowledgements

Report at a glance

Dates of field work
13 – 25 July 2002 (biological), 21 – 25 July 2002 (social/cultural)

Region
Northeastern tip of Pando at the border with Brazil, inside and immediately south of the Área de Inmovilización Federico Roman (Figure 2). This Área de Inmovilización (a designation given to sites that need further studies before categorization for land use) covers the western extension of the Brazilian Shield. Much of the peculiar vegetation of the Brazilian Shield has disappeared to the east, across the Madera (Madeira) River, in Brazil (Figure 2).

Sites surveyed
Three sites in northeastern Pando: (1) well-drained, tall upland Amazonian forests just south of the Área de Inmovilización Federico Roman (Caimán); (2) forests on seasonally or permanently flooded soils on the west bank of the Madera River, at the center of the Área de Inmovilización (Piedritas); and (3) forests on sterile, seasonally flooded soils at the junction of the Madera and Abuna Rivers (Manoa), the northeasternmost point in Bolivia (Figure 2).

Organisms surveyed
Vascular plants, reptiles and amphibians, birds, and large mammals.

Highlight of results
The inventory team identified a major opportunity to conserve endangered natural communities typical of the Brazilian Shield—which are rapidly disappearing in the rampant conversion of forests to short-lived cattle pastures to the north and east—with adjacent blocks of unbroken, tall Amazonian forests. Besides the high-canopy terra-firme forests, the range of unusual habitats in the region includes sartenejales and other low forests on poorly drained soils, open vegetation on shallow soils over rock (dry lajas), herbaceous vegetation on wet soils (wet lajas), stilt-rooted Symphonia swamps, and razor-sedge Scleria-vine forests with scattered trees.

Plants: The team registered 821 species of plants and estimated about 1200 for the region. Several of the species are uncommon, new for Bolivia,

Mammals: The team registered 39 species of large mammals, out of 51 estimated for the region. Population densities were high for many game species (agoutis, pacas, peccaries) and other species vulnerable to hunting pressure (howler and spider monkeys, tapirs). We recorded 10 species of primates and confirmed the presence of short-eared dogs (Atelocynus microtis). The pink river dolphin may be a regional endemic and deserves further studies. The hunting pressure in the region is currently low despite considerable human presence in adjacent Brazil.

Main threats
Remoteness of the region has kept it fairly well protected, but widespread timber harvest, conversion of forest to cattle pasture, and newly cultivated fields are creeping in. Hunting imposes a threat with the growth of towns in adjacent Brazil; incursions already are frequent. Mercury, still used to process gold on the Madera, threatens aquatic life.

Principal recommendations for protection and management

1.

Create a wilderness reserve—Reserva Nacional de Vida Silvestre Federico Román—that includes the Área de Inmovilización as well as large blocks of the tall, relatively undisturbed terra-firme forest immediately to the south and west (see Figure 2).

2.

Collaborate with the Bolivian military to provide efficient patrol against incursions into the areas; train staff at the military posts to support conservation goals.

3.

Collaborate with local communities and with owners of timber concessions to expand conservation areas within concessions and to improve forest management.

4.

Convert inactive timber concessions into non-timber forest product concessions.

5.

Promote international agreements with Brazil to control illegal hunting in the new wilderness reserve and to explore possibilities to protect the small fringe of forest that remains to the north of the Abuna River, in Brazil, as a buffer zone of the new reserve.

Long-term conservation benefits

1.

A new conservation area of global importance, protecting natural communities of the Brazilian Shield that are unique in Bolivia and are rapidly disappearing in Brazil (see Figure 2).

2.

Protection of essentially intact communities of plants and animals of western Amazonia with a high diversity of habitats and an extremely rich composition of species, the highest in Bolivia for several organisms.

3.

Human communities benefiting from their association with a forested landscape that contains the full complement of native plant and animal communities; collaborations with interested and willing local communities in the development and implementation of conservation plans and management of the new reserve and of adjacent areas.

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