biodiversity

The effects of climate change: from rainforest to savanna

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Illegal deforestation on farm.

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. 

Amazon birds come for a visit

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Chivi Vireo (Vireo chivi), isolated, perched among foliage. endemic bird of south america

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

Living with Wildlife: from subsistence hunting to international wildlife trafficking

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‘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

Beyond Biology: transdisciplinary approaches to conservation

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A jaguar is on the prowl on the outskirts of a local community deep in the Amazon rainforest. Its roars can be heard in the dead of night; its tracks surround the edges of the village. To some Indigenous communities, this may be a sign that a shaman from a rival village has transformed himself … Read more

ORO VERDE DEL MALINOWSKI

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En estos últimos 10 años estuve viajando por diferentes afluentes de la Amazonía Peruana en Madre de Dios. En uno de estos viajes tuve la oportunidad de conocer el río Malinowski, un lugar donde los mineros de oro estaban destruyendo la belleza de esta selva y todo lo que estaba a la vista. Donde antes … Read more

I Know That I Know Nothing: Reflections on Hunting and Conservation in the Amazon

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The forest was pitch black, its darkness amplified by the night. All I could see was a dense rainforest lit by a flickering flashlight held in one hand by Foca, an Indigenous man from a local community, while he paddled the canoe with the other hand. It was June and the water level was at … Read more

A Treeless Forest

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Collapsing to the floor and rattling the earth, an ancient, 50-meter tree now lays on its side below the intense tropical sun. The residual hole in the canopy instantly exposes the once-shaded understory, and the race is on. A seed from the massive kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) germinates almost immediately and springs into action, shooting … Read more

ACEER at the Global Biodiversity Festival 2021

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This year’s Global Biodiversity Festival ran from May 20th to May 23rd, encompassing the United Nations’ International Day for Biological Diversity. The nonprofit festival, opened by E.O. Wilson, and running for 72 hours straight, brought together over 150 speakers from around the world (scientists, explorers, conservationists, policy makers, filmmakers, economists) to celebrate our planet’s vast … Read more

Start from your backyard

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I’ve always been influenced by my peers’ interests and my lecturers’ adventures since I began my studies in conservation. I thought that to become a successful conservationist I needed to travel to tropical jungles and remote seas and work with flagship species such as large cats and venomous snakes. Driven by that thought, I left … Read more

Can We Learn From Our Mistakes? A Tale of Two Forests

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I was immersed in half-empty forest fragments, surrounded by concrete or pastures, for most of my life. The once-thriving Atlantic Forest along Brazil’s coast was burned and razed over centuries of development, leaving behind mostly small and degraded patches of forest that account for less than 30% of its original extent. However, an incredible amount … Read more