Dr. Hanna Tuomisto, hanna.tuomisto(at) utu.fi
University of Turku,
www.utu.fi

ORIGINS AND MAINTENANCE OF BIODIVERSITY IN THE WESTERN AMAZON: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Project summary

The Amazon basin is one of the most important global centers of biodiversity, but its biota and physical environment are among the least known and understood. This discrepancy has contributed to widely different views on the ecological, physical and evolutionary factors that control the rain forest ecosystem. For example, basic understanding is missing on how much geographical variation there is in soil characteristics and which factors are controlling that variation, on whether species are generally strict habitat specialists or wide generalists, and on which factors have contributed to the evolution of the extraordinarily rich biodiversity in the area. All these aspects are of great scientific and practical interest, because in the face of accelerating deforestation rates in Amazonia, such an understanding is urgently needed to revise sustainable ways to conserve and utilize the Amazonian nature.

This project takes a multidisciplinary approach in order to produce better understanding on the western Amazonian environment. The foundation is formed by geological studies that provide the historical and environmental background for our evolutionary, ecological and biogeographical studies of plants, molluscs and fishes. Clarifying the geological history of Amazonia will provide a basis both for understanding the edaphic differences among areas, and for understanding the past and present biogeographical barriers that may have affected speciation processes and species distribution patterns. Selected rain forest plants are studied to unravel how sensitive plants are to edaphic differences, and to what degree such differences can explain current species distribution patterns. Phylogenetic studies in combination with the ecological studies will provide a possibility to test alternative evolutionary hypotheses. Satellite imagery are used in estimating to what extent the results can be extrapolated to wider areas. The practical and economical significance of biodiversity is addressed in ethnobotanical and economical case studies. The findings of the different disciplines will be combined into a comprehensive synthesis using GIS technology, and studies on past and present land use patterns, as well as on the potentials for future land use, will be conducted to facilitate sustainable land use planning.

There are three main factors that make this proposal unique in tropical research: 1) A tight collaboration among disciplines (geology, paleontology, botany, zoology, economics, geography), 2) an exceptionally broad geographical view, and 3) the compilation of particularly large ecological and geological data sets. These aspects will enable us to address in novel ways several research questions that have previously been unanswerable. Consequently, we expect to provide new insights into the origin and maintenance of Amazonian biodiversity, as well as new methodologies for biodiversity inventories, which has obvious practical implications to biodiversity management and conservation.

This project is a direct continuation of the project that in the first phase of the FIBRE program was coordinated by Prof. Jukka Salo, and is divided in the same three sub-projects.

Research group

Sanna Mäki, sanna.maki(at) utu.fi
Leif Schulman, leif.schulman(at) helsinki.fi
Ari Linna, ari.linna(at) utu.fi, (in 2001)
Petri Siiro, petri.siiro(at) utu.fi
Esa Huusela,
Risto Kalliola, riskall(at) utu.fi
Luisa Rebata, luisa.rebata(at) utu.fi
Kalle Ruokolainen, karuoko(at) utu.fi
Matti Räsänen, mrasanen(at) utu.fi
Jukka Salo, jukka.salo(at) utu.fi
Ilari Sääksjärvi, ileesa(at) utu.fi
Jaana Vormisto, jaana.vormisto(at) biology.au.dk
Frank Wesselingh, wesselingh(at) naturalis.nnm.nl

Project’s own pages: http://www.utu.fi/ml/amazon/

Progress and results year 2000

The botanical work has advanced steadily in the processing of herbarium material and in analysing field data collected in previous years. Several manuscripts documenting the floristic and edaphic heterogeneity of western Amazonia have been finished. Plant species new to science have been found and described.

The most important part of the geographical research has dealt with land use questions in relation to environmental variables, and the cartographic presentation of the information produced. The effect of road construction on the environment and on the standard of living of villagers was studied at local scale in the Iquitos region, Peru. The quantity and quality of the scientific knowledge concerning the same region and its cartographic visualisation were also studied.

Land use research has also been conducted in regional scale covering four countries: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The data collected during field trips in 1998 and 1999 are currently being analysed to find out the historical, political and economic background to the development and present status of Amazonia in the target countries.

Another regional scale approach under preparation is the Western Amazon GIS (WA-GIS). During the year 2000, a mosaic of Landsat TM images covering the entire Western Amazonia has been completed. Also the evaluation of data forming the base for the other selected themes such as climate, geology, topography, soils, drainage, administrative boundaries, transportation infrastructure, population centres, and territories with special status has been started. A first operative version of the database will be available in early 2001.

Geological work has involved visiting important new field areas. In the southern part of the study area, convincing evidence was found that the Miocene marine incursions reached southern Peru from the north. Also the estimation of the salinities of these incursions can now be done in a more precise manner than before. In western Brazil and Southern Peru, new edaphic data were collected from Miocene as well as fluvial Pliocene and Quaternary deposits. The already analysed part of those data clearly show that different geological formations have different edaphic profiles (thicknesses vary from 3 to 20 m).These edaphic imprints of different formations may in the future be used to explain the paleogeography of certain edaphically specialised plant groups.

In northern Peru, a more extensive semi-regional survey was carried out along the Nauta-Iquitos road and the rivers Itaya, Marañón and Amazon. Selected outcrops were studied in detail sedimentologically and ichnologically. Soil samples were collected to analyse their edaphic patterns within and among them. Those samples have already been sent to different laboratories in Finland and abroad for their clay mineralogical, geochemical and nutrient analyses. The first scientifical paper about the sedimentology and ichnology of this area is under preparation.

The study on biological differentiation in the mobile Amazon floodplain environment (River Amazon and Rio Negro drainages) has focused on the MtDNA variation analysis of the genera Symphysodon and Pterophyllum (Perciformes: Cichlidae). In 2000, 10 new populations of the Symphysodon discus/S. aequifasciatus species complex were obtained throughout the Amazon basin (Peru/Brazil). The sequencing of all the material has been succesfully finished in December 2000. Physiological analysis of sperm viability in S. aequifasciatus was also started. The aim of this analysis is to test whether the sperm viability in varying pH conditions is factor in preventing introgressive hybridization in the Symphysodon species complex. Five manuscripts were written and will be submitted during 2001.

In 1999, the Peruvian government established the Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserved Zone, which is internationally famous because of the high within-site diversity of tree species and the recently demonstrated complexity of the white sand forest mosaic. In 2000, the following activities were started in this area: 1) assessment of selected NTFP in the Reserve and the adjacent floodplain of River Nanay; 2) determination of the NTFP categories, analysis of marketing, role of communities living within the borders of the Reserve in collecting and marketing the NTFP; 3) analysis of ecotourism potential of the Reserve; and 4) survey of ecosertification potential for the NTFP products of the Reserve. These analyses are carried out in co-operation with Instituto Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP) which is responsible for the establishment of the management strategy for the Reserve.

Project publications, pub2.