Projects > Latin America > Conservation Analyses
Conservation Analyses
Andes – Amazon Mapping of Ecological Systems and Areas of Endemism
With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NatureServe is embarking on a comprehensive mapping and modeling project in Peru and Bolivia. The study area encompasses the eastern slope of the Andes and lowland areas in the Amazon Basin. Special emphasis will be place on the Yungas region of Perú and Bolivia—a mountainous area of high endemism for both plants and animals. Using the latest research tools and methods, NatureServe will model and map the ranges of selected endemic species (birds, mammals, amphibians and plants) with the goal of identifying areas of high conservation value as well as new areas of endemism not yet detected. This project will produce a validated ecological systems map based on recent satellite imagery for the Yungas as well as lowland areas in the Amazon basin using an ecological classification approach recently developed by NatureServe. Learn more.
Sustainable Conservation Practices in the Guaraní Aquifer of Paraguay
The Secretaría del Ambiente from Paraguay and NatureServe coordinated a joint initiative regarding the implementation of environmental policy in the Guaraní Aquifer region. The final report is available.
Gap Analysis of Andean Ecoregions
NatureServe coordinated an assessment of gaps in the protected area systems
for five tropical Andean ecoregions ranging from Colombia to Bolivia. The project
was sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme with funding from the
Global Environment Facility, and involved a collaboration with The Nature Conservancy
and conservation data centers in each country. The project used satellite imagery
to map key ecological systems in each region, and assessed their status and threats.
Based on a variety of biological and socio-economic information, the project
team identified priority areas for biodiversity conservation in each ecoregion
and developed landscape management alternatives for the most promising areas. Learn more.
RANA: Research and Analysis Network for Neotropical Amphibians
NatureServe is coordinating an international group of tropical scientists to
conduct the most comprehensive assessment ever of the causes of decline in the
populations of frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians in Central and South
America and the Caribbean. The project's goal is to develop a scientific basis
for conservation action by promoting collaborative research and sharing of results,
and by encouraging ongoing monitoring of key sites in order to better understand
the extent and causes of amphibian declines.
While the causes of global amphibian declines are not clearly
known, leading hypotheses include habitat loss, disease, climate change, and
UV-B radiation. RANA—the Research and Analysis Network for Neotropical
Amphibians—will report its findings to the public through a bilingual website
about amphibian declines and through a database on the status of all species
of the New World tropics, developed in collaboration with the IUCN Species Survival
Commission. The project is funded by a five-year grant from the National Science
Foundation. See press
release.
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