The Amazon rainforest may be home to more animals than previously thought, Stanford scientists show

News report from Stanford University on our research: “By tapping the expertise of indigenous hunters, researchers found that conventional surveying techniques underestimate animal populations and miss species in the remote Amazon. Producing an accurate count is important for planning conservation efforts.” Continue reading “The Amazon rainforest may be home to more animals than previously thought, Stanford scientists show”

Levantamentos com Observações diretas Subestimam a Abundância de Mamíferos Terrestres: Implicações para uma Caça de Subsistência Sustentável

In corral behind house
Catitu (foto: Jose MV Fragoso)

A conservação de espécies cinegéticas neotropicais deve levar em conta os meios de vida e necessidades alimentares das populações humanas locais.

Artigo:  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152659

Resumo: Continue reading “Levantamentos com Observações diretas Subestimam a Abundância de Mamíferos Terrestres: Implicações para uma Caça de Subsistência Sustentável”

Modelo prevê impacto de fatores externos em tribos indígenas: Reportagem no jornal O Globo

Making farina in Kwanamer village, Wai Wai area
Muheres Uaiuais preparam farinha de mandioca tradicional (Foto: José Fragoso)

“Populações habitam a região amazônica há milhares de anos, mas o avanço de elementos da vida moderna está pondo em risco a sustentabilidade desses povos e do ecossistema onde vivem. Essa é a conclusão de um estudo elaborado pela equipe do biólogo português José Fragoso, da Universidade Stanford, nos EUA.” “ — Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que apenas não invadir áreas indígenas não é suficiente — diz Fragoso. — O que acontece no entorno das reservas tem grande impacto no interior.”

Reportagem do O Globo:Modelo prevê impacto de fatores externos em tribos indígenas – Jornal O Globo


Stanford University publishes news piece regarding our new publication.

Large industrial soybean fields in midst of Cerradao forest
Industrial scale soybean fields cut from forest by the Xingu Indigenous Area,  Brazil  (Photo copyright by Jose Fragoso)

Stanford University reports on how our computer model simulating sustainability sheds light on how modern interventions can affect tropical forests and indigenous peoples. Our computer simulation shows that carefully designing government interactions with rural indigenous people is critical for protecting the sustainability of people, wildlife and the land.

Read the full article here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2016/march/amazon-model-fragoso-031116.html


New Publication: Socio–environmental sustainability of indigenous lands: simulating coupled human–natural systems in the Amazon

Tractor preparing soy bean field in the cerrado
Preparing field for planting soybeans near indigenous land in the Cerrado of Brazil         (Photo copyright by Jose Fragoso )

Our latest publication is out in Frontiers in Ecology and The Environment. We examine the socio-environmental sustainability of protected areas inhabited by indigenous and rural peoples and describe how socio-ecological change and development (e.g., forest clear-cutting outside indigenous areas, religious conversion, improved child mortality rates and introduction of resources from outside) outside these areas influences the sustainability of biodiversity, forest cover, and people inside. There are some surprising results so read the publication!

Read the article:

Continue reading “New Publication: Socio–environmental sustainability of indigenous lands: simulating coupled human–natural systems in the Amazon”

Monitoring in Support of Local, National and International Environmental Priorities

Bina Hill students addressing commuity problems with our project at Bina Hill 2 workshop
Community discussion of potential problems of environmental monitoring by villagers (photo Jose Fragoso)

Jose Fragoso lectures at Stanford’s Center for Latin American Studies (link: http://events.stanford.edu/events/482/48261/) on what leads to success and failure in environmental and social monitoring by local people.

You can view a video recording of the lecture here: https://vimeo.com/117443887

The lecture is highly recommended for academics, researchers, professionals and students interested in the success and failure of participatory and citizen science monitoring approaches


“A fine line: new computer program predicts when human impact becomes too much”

Village by an Amazonian river (photo by Jose Fragoso)

We have completed a major work describing the sustainability of hunting, farming (land use) and local livelihoods in the tropics. We devised an agent based computer simulation model and explored the relationships between the above mentioned elements to consider what the future may hold for tropical forest biota, ecosystems and peoples.

Stanford University, Mongabay and others published news reports about the work. You can view two here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/june/amazon-sustainability-model-061314.html

and  http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0703-morgan-indigenous-model.html

Article:

Iwamura T., Lambin E., Silvius K.M., Luzar J.B. & Fragoso J.M.V. 2014. Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: understanding interactions between social and ecological systems. Environmental Modelling & Software, 58: 109-127.

View full article: Continue reading ““A fine line: new computer program predicts when human impact becomes too much””

Fragoso group paper accepted for publication

A manuscript by Jeff Luzar, Kirsten Silvius and José Fragoso entitled “Church Affiliation and Meat Taboos in Indigenous Communities of the Amazon”, was accepted for publication with revisions by the journal “Human Ecology” on March 19, 2012. The paper examines how meat taboos held by indigenous peoples are influenced by a number of different Christian churches.