4 April, 2023
A Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana) in Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, Peru. Photo by Nico Arcilla.
Deforestation for logging and agriculture are often cited as causes of biodiversity loss, but what about the opposite? In Peru, logging and agriculture took place in the northern Amazon region in an area since protected through the 2004 designation of a new protected area. Now known as the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, this area is the subject of conservation efforts by the Peruvian government following the discovery of a number of bird species that were new to science, and which appear to be restricted to a rare and special habitat type in western Amazonia, white-sand forests.
These forests are the site of an ongoing IBCP research project that asks how birds in this area are responding to forest regeneration in the reserve after its protection from logging and agricultural conversion. IBCP’s Nico Arcilla conducted field research on understory birds in these forests 18 years ago, and now IBCP postdoc Alex Glass is leading research that builds on those data, including using similar methods at some of the same sites. Karen Rios Torres, Katterine Garly Aliaga Pashanaste, and Julio Yaicate Arirama are currently working with Alex on this exciting project and we look forward to posting updates and details in the coming weeks and months!
Garly, Karen, and Alex about to release a Long-tailed Hermit (Phaethornis superciliosus) captured as part of their research on birds in Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve. Photo by Nico Arcilla.
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