Project title
Mammal diversity survey in the Xixuaú
Nature Reserve and technical capacity building through training of protection
staff
Xixuaú Nature Reserve, Roraima State, the Amazon,
Brazil
Organisations involved
Zoological Museum, University
of Copenhagen (ZMUC)
Associação Amazônia
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The Xixuaú Nature
Reserve is situated on a tributary in the Rio Negro blackwater river system, 500
km north-west of the city Manaus, in one of the least known areas of the
Brazilian Amazon. No thorough surveys have ever been published from the region,
however, a preliminary one-month study carried out by the project leader, Mogens
Trolle, in 1996 showed the pristine rainforest of the reserve to harbor a rich
wildlife including several threatened mammal species. Remarkably few thorough
mammal inventories have been undertaken in the Brazilian part of the Amazon and,
in addition to being of scientitic significance, such studies are important for
setting conservation priorities, locally as well as on a broader scale in the
Amazon region.
Objectives of the project
The overall
objectives of the project are to carry out a full-scale mammal diversity survey
in the Xixuaú Nature Reserve and develop the technical capacity of
Associação Amazônia, owner of the Reserve, to effectively
monitor the biodiversity of the area.
Methodology
The
project will begin in November 2000 and is expected to be terminated by the end
of 2001. The project includes the following parts:
- Mammal survey. Five-months field study of the mammal diversity of the
Xixuaú Nature Reserve; both large and small species (excluding bats).
Methods used will include TrailMaster camera traps, small mammal trapping (box
traps, snap traps, pitfall traps), diurnal census, nocturnal spotlight census,
identification of tracks and skulls, and interviews with locals. Information on
habitat use as well as seasonal variation in abundance and distribution of
various species in the reserve will be gathered.
- Reserve staff training. Local reserve staff will participate in the
field work and be trained in various basic wildlife survey and monitoring
techniques. Training will include species identification skills, using field
guides to mammals and birds provided by the project. An introductory course will
be held at the Reserve headquarters.
- Post-field assessment. Data analysis, report writing, publication of
results in acknowledged journals, and preparation of a field key to the
identification of the mammals of the region, in Portuguese, as well as a manual
with recommendations for future surveys that could be carried out by
Associação Amazônia itself to monitor the wildlife of the
Nature Reserve.
Associação Amazônia will
provide transportation and accommodation; the field work and training will be
carried out by field researchers from ZMUC in cooperation with
Associação Amazônia. In addition, a counterpart from the
University of Amazonas and University of Roraima will be invited to participate.
Specimens of small mammals collected during the field work may be of value to
future studies in the Amazon region and will be left at the Museo Nacional,
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.