Monitoring faunal recovery in a former illegal logging hotspot in Amazonian Peru

Report on a 2005-2007 grant from the Rufford Foundation to monitor vertebrate populations along the Los Amigos River in Amazonian Peru.

"For the last two years, ACCA’s 8 park guards have conducted regular quantitative surveys of populations of >60 species of large vertebrates along permanent forest and river transects in the concession. The monitoring is providing a first-ever look at the rebound of an Amazonian animal community following intensive disturbance by people. Preliminary results suggest significant increases in populations of giant river otters, howler monkeys, caimans, Muscovy ducks, river turtles, and other animals. Of the 13 species with enough data for statistical significance, 10 show increases in sighting frequency. Since ACCA aims to continue the faunal monitoring throughout the 40-year life of the conservation concession, the proposed work will provide an invaluable record of population dynamics in an Amazonian fauna at a time when global change is driving hard-to-predict fluctuations in nature...."

See the full report, with links to two peer-reviewed papers on the project, here.

Photo of a jaguar along the Los Amigos River by Thor Veen