Tag Archives: RBI

Friday Foto

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We thought we would post just a really pretty picture today from one of the Cofán territories. Lucky photographer Alvaro del Campo took this shot from inside his tent during the 2009 Rapid Biological Inventory in the headwaters of the Cofanes and Chingual Rivers coordinated by the Field Museum of Chicago. This area is in northern Ecuador and spans three provinces: Carchi, Imbabura and Sucumbios, and the rugged Cabeceras Cofanes-Chingual is one of the last remote, intact mountainous regions in Ecuador.

This mountainous landscape is home to unique orchids, highly adapted fishes, and the endangered mountain tapir. It is also the source for water that supplies the entire region!  Cofan Survival Fund helped make sure this area is protected by helping coordinate the creation of two reserves: the Rio Cofanes Territory and the La Bonita Municipal Reserve.

Waterfall from tent in Rio Cofanes area

Pensamos en poner una foto super bonita hoy de uno de los territorios cofanes. El fotógrafo afortunado Alvaro del Campo tomó esta foto desde adentro de su carpa durante el Inventario Biológico Rápido de 2009 en las cabeceras de los ríos Cofanes y Chingual, coordinado por el Field Musuem de Chicago. Esta zona está ubicada en el norte de Ecuador, e incluye tres provincias: Carchi, Imbabura y Sucumbios. Esta tierra escarpada es una de las últimas regiones montañosas intactas del Ecuador.

En este paisaje de montañas se encuentran especies de orquídias únicas, peces sumamente adaptados y el tapir andino amenazado. ¡Tambien es la fuente de agua para toda la región! La Fundación Sobrevivencia Cofán apoyó en el proceso de proteger esta zona a través de ayudar coordinar la creación de dos reservas: el Territorio Rio Cofanes y la Reserva Municipal La Bonita.

 

Friday Foto

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Today’s Friday Foto comes from Alavaro del Campo, one of the researchers who came in 2008 with other Chicago Field Museum biologists to carry out a Rapid Biological Inventory in the Cofanes Chingual territory. This pic is of a mountain coati, a member of the raccoon family. Mountain coatis are found only in the Andean mountains in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and perhaps Peru, and are very rare in captivity. Not as much is know about mountain coatis as their lowland relatives, but they are thought to have similar behavior. This animal is threatened by habitat destruction, and the absence of scientific data on them means that the ecological problems affecting their population are underestimated.

Mountain Coati

La Friday Foto de hoy viene de la cámara de Alavaro del Campo, uno de los investigadores que vinieron en 2008 con otros biólogos del Chicago Field Museum para realizar un Inventario Biológico Rápido en el territorio Cofanes Chingual. Esta foto es de un coatí de montaña, miembro de la familia de mapache. Coatis de montaña se encuentran solamente en los Andes de Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela y tal vez Perú, y es raro encontrarlos en cautividad. No se sabe mucho de los coatís de montaña comparado con sus parientes de tierras bajas, pero se piensa que tienen comportamiento parecido. Este animal es amenazado con la destrucción de su hábitat, y la ausencia de datos científicos significa que se subestiman los problemas ecológicos que afectan su población.

Taking inventory, Amazon-style

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Hola!

In 2008, scientists from the Field Museum of Chicago came to Ecuador to carry out a Rapid Biological Inventory in the Cuyabeno region of Ecuador and the Gueppi region of Peru. The goal of these inventories, both biological and social, “is to catalyze effective action for conservation in threatened regions of high biological diversity and uniqueness.” These inventories don’t try to produce an exhaustive list of species, but they identify important biological communities in the site and determine if these communities are significant in a regional or global context.

After the results were in, the scientists found a “spectacular” amount of biodiversity in this region, among which were 13 species of plants and fish in Ecuador completely new to science. And in only one month! Imagine what other surprises are hidden in the rainforest!

Here is the first in a series of videos about the RBI #20

To see more videos, visit the Field Museum’s YouTube site.

To read more about the RBIs, please visit the Field Museum’s website.