GVI Amazon - Team BioBlitz

BioBlitz Update - August 2012

The BioBlitz update is finally here!  The remote location of our base camp means that sometimes news takes quite a while to reach me here in Quito, where I post all these updates to all the GVI Amazon fans out there.  My apologies for the delay, but I don't think you'll be disappointed!  BioBlitz was fantastic, and once again, we want to send a huge thank you to all our alumni, friends, family and fans who donated in support of the community reforestation program in the Amazon -- your donations kept us going through this crazy week of survey madness -- THANK YOU!    

-- GVI Ecuador Country Director, Blaine Clarke   

 

Read on for the update!

 

¡BioBlitz!

 

GVI Amazon’s BioBlitz was intended to be a week of non-stop survey activity for GVI volunteers to find new species for the Yachana Reserve species list.  If we can give a comprehensive species list to the Yachana Foundation when we hand over the project in late September, we know we will have done the best job we can, and the species list will be an incredibly valuable tool for Yachana, in both their ecotourism program (employing large numbers of local people) and the education program as high school students continue to use the reserve as a hands-on science education center. Additionally, the BioBlitz was a chance to catalog many of the species here in the reserve and add them to the international iNaturalist wildlife database (www.inaturalist.org), and a fun way to raise money for  a community-focused reforestation program in the Amazon through the GVI Charitable Trust.

 

measuring a caiman for iNaturalist

Even more, however, it was an opportunity to do things that we have always been curious about: how much would we see if we did a twenty-man (rather than the normal six) visual encounter survey? What comes to the waterhole at night? Is that muddy puddle a peccary wallow? What will we catch if we put a mist net high into the trees?

 

 

Abdon and the hide-building crew in front of their work -- can you see it?

And so it was that we, GVI Amazon volunteers and staff, entered BioBlitz week with an intrepid sense of adventure. Abdon, our Reserve ranger, built us a fantastically camouflaged hide of leaves at the waterhole; Lana and her team adapted a pulley system to hoist mist nets into the canopy; whiteboards were filled with schedules and plans; and we were ready to go. Seven, long sleepless days later what can I tell you? As I try to clear the fog from my eyes to focus on the screen, I can tell you we had fun. There were times when we had to draw strength from the fact that our friends and families donated money for the cause, just to get up and get out there again. We had to tell ourselves that a five hour walk in already-wet clothes after a four hour walk at the crack of dawn was a totally acceptable Sunday morning activity!

 

glass frog

I can also tell you that the muddy puddle IS a peccary wallow (although we sadly have no photographic evidence); and I can tell you that a twenty-man VES – through the forest at night is a NIGHTMARE for the poor staff members trying to keep a track of everything – although we did see some beautiful rarely seen frogs and a bad-tempered caiman. Additionally, there are even more butterflies on the reserve than we realized; previously unseen bat species are what will fly into the tree-top and steam-spanning mist nets, and beautiful leafy hides wash away in storms!

 

new bat species!

Overall, BioBlitz was a great success. We saw some amazing things, explored our rainforest, registered 12 brand new species for the Yachana Reserve species list (see the additions below), and raised over £1000 (GBP) for community reforestation and education in the Amazon! And now it is time for bed.

 

Charlie Coupland, GVI Amazon Base Manager

 

 

Newly recorded species for the Yachana Reserve, from GVI Amazon BioBlitz 2012

 

Frogs

Teratohyla amelie (glass frog)

Leptodactylus hyladactylus

Pristimantis luscombei

 

Mammals

Mus musculus 

Vampyressa pusilla (?) -- (A  bat species – not vampire! – species to be determined)

 

Butterflies

Skippers:

Urbanas simplicius

Quadrus contueeralis

Butterflies:

Eunica norica

Strynon bubastus

Hyposcada kena

Anteros acheus

 

Reptiles

Eunectes marinus (baby anaconda! – technically, this guy showed up a bit before BioBlitz officially began, but we're including him as our first new species that kickstarted the week!)

 

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Our last big CT hurrah!  As GVI Amazon begins it's last 3 months of hardcore data collection, in preparation of the handover to our local in-country partner in October, we've decided to go out with a major bang, raising money for the communities & surveying like never before!  Thus, we present to you...

 

GVI BioBlitz Charitable Trust Challenge in the Amazon
A week-long extreme-surveying challenge to add as many species to the Yachana Reserve species list as possible before GVI leaves the Amazon, all the while raising funds for conservation in our communities!
July 20-24, 2012*

Are you up to it???  Sign up now by emailing Ecuador@gviworld.com and we’ll show you how to make your own JustGiving donation page

 

What is a BioBlitz Challenge?

5 days of extreme spotting, netting, photographing, trapping, chasing, and documenting species in the furthest corners and most unique habitats of the Yachana Reserve. Swamps, canopies, tree falls, remote areas: Here we come.

Hundreds of species of birds, frogs, lizards, snakes, butterflies, and mammals to be added to the list, some of them potentially previously unknown to science.

 

With little sleep, long days and nights in the field, inventive techniques, and experts by our side: how many can we add to the list?

 

Where will the money go? GVI volunteers raise money in our Challenges by seeking sponsorship from friends, family, coworkers, your football buddies… anyone and everyone!  The funds will go to the creation of a tree planting and education program for local Amazon communities. These trees will reforest pastures, increasing plant diversity and serving as long-term investments for the communities. The high-quality wood trees, when mature, can be harvested on a rotating basis to provide the money needed for the next generation to go to university- a cost unobtainable by almost all of the families in the region. The rotating harvests will also ensure that there are more trees continually being planted and overall much greater area of forest in the region. This project will be led by conservationist and long-time GVI partner Hector Vargas who has successfully implemented similar programs in other Amazon communities.

 

Why add species to the Yachana Reserve species list? GVI has been doing active research in the Yachana Reserve for the last 7 years and we are still finding new species to add to the species list almost every week. As GVI heads out of the Amazon, the species list is an incredibly important document to leave for our partner organization, the Yachana Foundation, to show what was found in the area during this time. This allows for future monitoring comparisons, opens the area up to having more researchers work here, and provides a basis for continued protection of the reserve. With hundreds of species of butterflies, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians already documented, we are determined to get as complete an image as possible of what is thriving in this area at this time.

 

Who will be a part of the challenge? It will not only be the GVI volunteers and staff working hard in the field. We are inviting experts from universities and institutions in Quito to assist us in difficult identifications and to provide extra hands in the field, as well as getting the local school children to help us spot and photograph butterflies and birds along the road.

*exact dates may change slightly depending on availability of Ecuadorian scientists/experts 

 

 

This is an extreme challenge for an extremely important cause; please help us raise the money to further ensure GVI leaves this region in much better condition than it would have been without the hard work of our volunteers over the years.

 

Join us & start raising funds today!

And yes, there will be a prize for the top fund-raiser J

 

 

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