dezembro, 21 2010

By Ligia Paes de Barros

The methodology used to research biodiversity in the Serra do Pardo National Park was Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA), which consists of simultaneously combining the activities of researchers in different fields (botany, avifauna, mammalian fauna, herpetofauna and ichthyofauna) working in the same place.

The idea is to respect each research field’s particular methodology but at the same time to foster interaction among the fields so as to obtain knowledge of the ecological relations between the various groups.

 “The REA managed to provide valuable information on the interactions among the animal groups themselves and in turn their interactions with the plant species”, explained the expedition’s research coordinator Roberto Antonelli Filho. He also stressed the fundamental importance of interaction among the researchers. “One announces to another that he has found a certain plant species and the other informs him that he has spotted a certain bird and that kind of exchange enriches the research considerably”, he declared.

Furthermore, Antonelli considers that REA is an excellent way of gathering information to support decision making processes like those involved in the elaboration of the Serra do Pardo National Park management plan which was the overall object of the expedition.

“All the information collected has a spatial address, that is, it is duly geo-referenced and that enables us to suggest what should or should not be done in each part of the protected area”, explained Antonelli. “For example, we identified those places where there was a need to provide greater protection for biodiversity and recommend that it become a non visited area of the Park, and we also identified those areas that have already been degraded to some extent and that could therefore be used as the site for the National Park’s installations”, said the coordinator.

“Here we have very well built team made up of specialists in each field and other professionals who have worked with this methodology before and they have all shown high levels of efficiency. They like what they do, turn in a high performance and articulate their areas very well”, concluded Antonelli in his remarks on the Serra do Pardo National Park research.

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To know more about the Scientific Expedition to Terra do Meio 2010:

• First-time study of Amazonian area reveals enormous richness of biodiversity
• Acquiring knowledge to improve biodiversity conservation
• The scientific expedition: from preparations to actual research
• From preparations to actual research: research begins
• Methodology employed: rapid ecological assessment
• The history of the Serra do Pardo National Park
• Possible previously unregistered fish species found in the Serra do Pardo National Park
• Species found in the Serra do Pardo National Park
• The work of the researchers:
  • Among the snakes and toads
  • Sharp hearing: more than 250 birds identified by their calls and songs
  • Investigational work: looking for Jaguar tracks
  • Looking for flowers, fruits and seeds
  • Searching the streams and rivers