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
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
New Publication: Line Transect Surveys Underdetect Terrestrial Mammals: Implications for the Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting
Collared peccary (copyright photo Jose MV Fragoso)
Our new paper in the journal PLOS ONE reports that we are grossly under-detecting hunted animal species. The results challenge the many studies showing serious negative impacts of subsistence hunting on wildlife species. Seems like the animals may be hiding from us. This research indicates that we need to reassess how we measure hunting impacts in the tropics.
Read the article: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152659
New in press: “Socio–environmental Sustainability of Indigenous Lands: Simulating Human-Nature Interactions in the Amazon” in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Research collaborators Takuya Iwamura, Eric Lambin, Kirsten Silvius, Jeffrey B Luzar, and José Fragoso have a new paper in press. The publication examines the resiliency and sustainability of biodiversity, human livelihoods and forest cover within Amazonian indigenous lands under various future development scenarios. The paper is scheduled for publication in the February 2016 issue of the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment”.
Large numbers of white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) invade Amazonian town
On November 10, 2015, large numbers of white-lipped peccaries moved across the town of Caracaraí in Roraima State, Brazil. Many became trapped in yards or were killed by townspeople. Caracaraí has a population of over 10,000 people. Jose Fragoso (1997, 2004) described these exceptional movements as possible population level dispersal events or perhaps a herd that abandoned its usual home area after long term persecution by humans.
Newspaper story, photos and Fragoso articles here: Continue reading “Large numbers of white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) invade Amazonian town”
More than 170 white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) filmed crossing a 2 km wide river in Roraima, Brazil
More than 170 white-lipped peccaries were filmed crossing the Rio Branco River in Caracaraí County, Roraima, Brazil in the Amazon. The peccaries were filmed for over 30 minutes when in the middle of the almost 2 km wide Rio Branco by agents of Brazil’s wildlife agency Ibama. Recording made on November 7, 2015.
View the video here: http://g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/noticia/2015/11/manada-de-mais-de-170-porcos-do-mato-atravessa-rio-de-rr-video.html
Fragoso 2004 article: Fragoso 2004 White-lip dissapearances
Fragoso 1997 article: Fragoso 1997
Gathering Data on Plants and Animals in the Amazon Basin
Stanford University produced a short documentary of our monitoring of plants and animals of the Amazon. Watch amazing scenes of caimans, capybaras, tapirs, giant anteaters, giant otters, macaws and other unusual creatures filmed during our field studies. The interview focuses on the successful monitoring of these animals by indigenous people. The take home message is that indigenous people use wildlife in a sustainable fashion.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upmzEzuF_ls
“A fine line: new computer program predicts when human impact becomes too much”
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””
Stanford Hispanic Radio interviews Jose Fragoso
Isabel Jubes of KZSU 90.1 FM Radio Stanford interviews Jose Fragoso concerning the State of the Amazon Forest. KZSU broadcasts Latino and Hispanic Culture to the world.
The interview can be heard here: (http://stanfordhispanicbroadcasting.org/the-state-of-the-amazon-forest-its-fauna-flora-and-indigenous-people/)
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.
Fragoso Lab 