"Just knowing that these scenes aren’t the most beautiful places along the trail system provokes a rush of tenderness for that forest. It still looks like paradise to me—even if it’s paradise on a hot afternoon when the cicadas are buzzing. These are not the kind of pictures you look at and think: Look how beautiful that forest is. Two thousand kilometers away and half a dozen years later, I sit up late with those pictures and think: I loved that forest, and this is what it looked like.
How cute it is that we humans think we rule the planet, that somehow we’re the pinnacle of evolution. In reality, it’s the arthropods—ants and spiders and scorpions and such—that truly hold dominion over Earth. And there are no arthropods as successful, as diverse, and as woefully underappreciated as the beetles. They tally an astounding 400,000 known species and there could be an estimated 3/5 million waiting to be discovered!"
The Amazon River regularly spills over its banks, flooding the surrounding forest. This seasonal overflow creates a unique ecosystem that provides life essentials to more than 2.5 million insect species, 40,000 plant species, 2,000 fish species, 1,200 bird species, 420 mammal species, 425 amphibian species, 370 reptile species, and 10 million people! Recently, radically fluctuating flood levels are causing scientists to ponder the impact of global climate change on this ecosystem. Yet even with the abundance of water, there is a scarcity of potable water for its human inhabitants.
It might seem a bit strange to adopt, in the Amazon rainforest, a solution developed for drought-stricken northeastern Brazil. But rainwater collected on rooftops and stored in tanks is helping to improve the health, hygiene and overall living conditions of rural communities in the jungle.
Well if this doesn't captivate your students, we're not sure what will! Lots of examples of this in the Amazon, but you might be surprised to know how common it is world wide.
Leaves are vital trees organs that support many important functions. A recent study published in PNAS found that each tree species in tropical rainforests possesses distinctive bacterial communities – called microbiomes – on their leaves. Understanding how leaf microbiomes vary among species may in the future be applied for maintaining healthy forests and predicting how forests will react to climate change.
"If there is one important message that I would like to transmit, it is that for poor, local populations, despite conventional wisdom, conservation is not a 'dirty word,'" Shanee said. "Rural people in Northeastern Peru find nature and biodiversity conservation attractive for their intrinsic, social, aesthetic, and moral values, as well as a measure to ensure their own future..."
All eyes are on Peru now as the country prepares to host the UN climate change negotiations from Dec.1-12, 2014. The 20th Conference of Parties (COP20) is seen as a watershed event as it will lay down the groundwork for a legally-binding climate change agreement in 2015.
Most of us are concerned about how climate change will affect our corners of the world, but we need to be thinking about our most vital natural resources: tropical forests. Tropical and subtropical forests are the most biodiverse areas on the planet, and they even give us most of the oxygen we breathe.
Eliza Suruí sits on a palm mat she wove herself, in the shade of her family's maloca, or dwelling. It is a hot September afternoon in the Brazilian Amazon. She picks a tucun nut from the basket i...
We found so many snakes with Pablo that we decided to have a few episodes devoted to these beautiful and often misunderstood creatures. First: the common Fer...
As land rights of indigenous peoples are increasingly being violated, writes Tim Radford, new research shows that the planned destruction of the Amazon rainforest is a major threat not only to cultural identity but also to the global climate.
Peru - host of the COP20 UN climate conference now under way in Lima - is facing rebellion by a 3,500 strong indigenous people deep in the Amazon committed to fighting oil exploration in their forest territory, writes David Hill, following the government's failure to consult Matsés communities or respect their rights.
"The greatest and most endangered species in the Amazon rainforest is not the jaguar or the harpy eagle," says Mark Plotkin, "It's the isolated and uncontacted tribes." In an energetic and sobering talk, the ethnobotanist brings us into the world of the forest's indigenous tribes and the incredible medicinal plants that their shamans use to heal. He outlines the challenges and perils that are endangering them — and their wisdom — and urges us to protect this irreplaceable repository of knowledge
Downtime over Thanksgiving? Here's a nugget to fill the void - a great TED talk by ethnobotanist and explorer, Dr. Mark Plotkin (Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice). Enjoy!
Giant otters can grow to nearly 6 feet in length and are the largest otter species on the planet. In addition to being huge, giant river otters also have a (relatively) huge vocabulary.
Efforts to save the pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish, have been a success while offering a strategy for fending off a broader freshwater extinction crisis.
Educators! Here's a BIG list of classroom friendly climate change resources from Amazon Rainforest Workshops that you can use to host a Climate Change Summit in YOUR CLASSROOM!
With 27 out of 32 climatic zones and 5 percent of the world’s freshwater, Peru is the world’s third-most vulnerable country when it comes to climate change.
Find a way to screen this movie at your school or library and introduce your students and community to the important role of field biologists in understanding how our world works and it's NEVER been more important! Jared Flesher is a great role model for the next generation of explorers!
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