{"id":2838,"date":"2019-09-02T21:58:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T21:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=2838"},"modified":"2019-09-03T23:44:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T23:44:06","slug":"burning-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2019\/09\/02\/burning-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Burning it down"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Leila S. Lemos, PhD Candidate in Wildlife Sciences, Fisheries and Wildlife Department, OSU <\/strong><\/p>\n

As you might know, the GEMM Lab (Geospatial Ecology of MARINE Megafauna Laboratory) researches the marine environment, but today I am going to leave the marine ecosystem aside and I will discuss the Amazon biome. As a Brazilian, I cannot think of anything else to talk about this week than the terrifying fire that is burning down the Amazon forest in this exact minute.<\/p>\n

For some context, the Amazon biome is known as the biome with the highest biodiversity in the world (ICMBio, 2019). It is the largest biome in Brazil, accounting for ~49% of the Brazilian territory. This biome houses the biggest tropical forest and hydrographic basin in the world. The Amazon forest also extends through eight other countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guiana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles,\u00a0more than 400 amphibians, around 3,000 freshwater fishes, and around 100,000 invertebrate species have been described by scientists in the Amazon, comprising more than 1\/3 of all fauna species on the planet (Da Silva et al. 2005, Lewinsohn and Prado 2005). And, these numbers are likely to increase; According to Patterson (2000), one new genus and eight new species of Neotropical mammals are discovered each year in the region.<\/p>\n

I feel very connected to the Amazon as I worked as an environmental consultant and field coordinator in 2014 and 2015 (Figs. 1 and 2) along the Madeira river <\/a>(or \u201cWood\u201d river) in Rondonia, Brazil (Fig. 3). I monitored Amazon river dolphins <\/a>(Inia geoffrensis<\/em>; Fig. 4), a species considered endangered by the IUCN Red List <\/a>in 2018 (Da Silva et al. 2018). The Madeira river originates in Bolivia and flows into the great Amazon river<\/a>, comprising one of its main tributaries (Fig. 3).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Me, working along the Madeira river, Rondonia, Brazil, in 2015.
Source: Laura K. Honda, 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 2: Me, helping to rescue a sloth from the Madeira river, Rondonia, Brazil, in 2014.
Source: Roberta Lanziani, 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 3: The Amazon hydrographic basin, with the Madeira river highlighted.
Source: Wikipedia, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Figure 4: Amazon river dolphins (I. geoffrensis) along the Madeira river, Rondonia, Brazil.
Source: Leila S. Lemos, 2014; 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is also a video where you can see some Amazon river dolphins along the Madeira river:<\/p>\n