According to the US Department of Agriculture honey bees alone pollinate 80% of all flowering plants. Their pollination of over 130 different species of vegetables and fruits means that these tiny creatures have a huge role in global food production. Their precipitous population decline should send shock waves throughout the world. That’s why every effort to protect … Read more
The Amazon rainforest makes its own rain. And less forest means less precipitation. As forest destruction affects climate and vice versa, the concern is that the Amazon will be caught up in a set of feedback loops that could dramatically speed up the pace of forest loss and degradation and bring the Amazon to a point of no return. This ‘tipping point’ may occur when a certain percentage of Amazonian habitat dies, after which it will all turn into a savanna-like ecosystem.
Tanagers, Yellow Warblers, Bobolinks, Chivi Vireo, and more are all different types of migratory birds from the Amazon. Tanagers come in a wide variety of colors such as red and orange or a more grayish-blue. The male Scarlet Tanagers are known as the most gorgeous birds seen in the north during the summer, but they … Read more
Travel is important because it connects us, and without connection, we’d remain unable to understand the full impact of the big picture. We can objectively understand that the climate crisis is scary and terrible… but seeing it firsthand is different.
Families in Amazonia certainly rely on their home gardens for much of their food, and take surplus to markets in Iquitos or Puerto Maldonado, for example, to supplement their income and to purchase items not grown at home. Foraging, though, in the forest is also a source of food be it meat from hunting or … Read more
Coca consumption has its origins in the ancient Inca tradition, but the scale at which it is used now has nothing to do with beautiful rituals anymore. It causes deforestation, contamination and violence.
The Amazon, like other tropical forests, consists of distinct layers. Each layer holds a myriad of microhabitats. The herbaceous layer of the forest is at ground level followed by woody shrubs, understory trees, canopy trees and finally giant emergent trees that penetrate the forest canopy and can reach heights of over 150 feet. These layers … Read more
“Ha! Careful, they’ll try and go up your nose!” I turn and see Jospeh See, an ACEER conservation fellow, covered in bees. As they’re latching onto his hair and covering his macro camera, I can see he is beaming, perfectly in his element. We were in the midst of opening a tree trunk hive to … Read more
Excitement rushes over me as I arrive in Puerto Maldonado, a small city in the state of Madre de Dios, Peru, and the gateway to the southern Peruvian Amazon. Before locating my hostel, I was already seeking adventure. Walking around the town’s plaza you will find numerous locals and small businesses ready to provide a … Read more
The metal bridge in downtown Puerto Maldonado, above the mighty and murky Madre de Dios river, is not just any bridge. This 750-meter long suspension bridge, officially called the ‘Puente Guillermo Billinghurst’ after a Peruvian congressman, was finished in July 2011 and completed the 2600km-long Interoceanic Highway, which runs from the Atlantic Ocean through Brazil … Read more
In any visit to a market in an Amazonian town, one will find the local “pharmacy” section. A robust zone dedicated to whole and processed medicinal plants for use in treatment and in ceremony. Cat’s Claw, Dragon’s Blood, 7- and 21-Roots are just a few of the more popular preparations. The bulk herbs can be used … Read more
‘The smell hits you like a train. Burned hair, rotting flesh, and old meat that’s not smoked for flavor but for necessity. Anyone who is solely used to eating western food, would doubt to eat anything there.’ – is how Dr. Brian Griffiths, researcher of hunting traditions and game species in the Peruvian Amazon, describes … Read more
A light rain trickled down the leaves of the dense forest, glistening as the morning sun penetrated through the clouds. A troop of capuchin and squirrel monkeys passed noisily over our heads as we glided through the flooded forest on canoes. Our group moved in absolute silence except for the occasional beep emitted by our … Read more
Did you know the Peruvian Amazon rainforest alone occupies a territory larger than that of Ukraine? I did not. That’s a fun fact I dug up from Amazon Watch when researching this blog. That’s not all they have in common. Both are also under attack from autocratic leaders determined to hang onto power. This I … Read more
By Carolyn Keller and Charles Sunday If you live in the U.S., it’s easier than it should be to relegate Native American experience to history. When we do get news about Native American and First Nations communities in North America, post-elementary school narratives – the ones beyond construction paper hats as Thanksgiving rolls around – … Read more
As a novice conservation ecologist I had the adventurous task of monitoring wildlife populations in the Peruvian Amazon. My perspiring students and I would walk in a straight line through pristine rainforest, holding a GPS, binoculars and a datasheet, to record any monkey, jaguar or rat that we encountered. We had research permits to do … Read more
Anyone who has walked a trail in the Amazon is aware of a very subtle, steady, quiet descent of dead leaves and other plant materials from the canopy above. This material covers the soil of the forest floor. Natural mulch! However, you can easily employ mulching in your own garden. Mulching cannot be overrated. By … Read more
The soils in Amazonia are so notoriously poor in nutrients, that plants have evolved diverse ways of capturing nutrients from dead leaves, stems, bark, fallen fruit and more. So successful are these plants in recycling nutrients that the vast majority of the nutrients in the rainforest are found in the forest biomass, not in the … Read more
