2008 March | Blue-fronted Amazon Project

The flood season at Pantanal

Category: Flood Season | Date: Mar 21 2008 | By: admin

The flood season at Pantanal has started. Dr. Sergio Galdino, a researcher at EMBRAPA-Pantanal, explains that Pantanal is a plain surrounded by plateaus where springs of the main Pantanal’s rivers can be found. The large extension of the plain (140,000 km2) associated with its low declivity collaborate to a complex flood system in the region. At the flood season (Dec to May), the water from the rains at the plateaus associated with the rains at the plain area overflow the flat landscape – the water levels rise more than three meters!

A big group of herons (can you see the white dots on the threes?) at their roosting site.

The cattle raisers must transfers the herd to higher lands, in attempt to avoid the flood. But it is not only the Pantaneiro cowboy who works under rain – our team too! On our March field trip we counted the parrots and analyzed their behavior during the rainy season. In several occasion we had to leave the car and evaluate the area by foot.

Joao and Vandir are checking if the car will be able to cross this flood area.

Vandir and Veronica.

Vandir and Thayane.

Our boots…

Veronica checking the parrot’s behavior.

Veronica’s boots were full of water!

Despite making out work harder, we are happy with the flood, because it is a blessing for the whole ecosystem of Pantanal!

Tags: Flood Season, Pantanal

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The Project at the XXVII Brazilian Congress of Zoology

Category: Education | Date: Mar 03 2008 | By: admin

Between February 17th and 21st, the externs Veronica and Thayane, which are biology college students, participate at the XXVII Brazilian Congress of Zoology at Curitiba, PR – Brazil. The subject ‘Zoology in the next 30 years’ promoted a huge and polemic debate about the future ways of this area. The event congregated 4,500 people, including professional zoologists and students from Brazil and abroad.

Veronica presented a poster entitled ‘Associated arthopods at the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot’s (Amazona aestiva) nest at Pantanal’. This study had the participation of another extern (Lelis) and was oriented by Dr. Gustavo Graciolli, a professor at the Biological Sciences Department, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul.

This study revealed the presence of adult acari and insects at the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot’s nests. The most frequent group were adult Coleoptera (46,7%), Dermestidae larvae (20%), adult Formicidae (26,7%) and Calliphoridae (Diptera) larvae (26,7%).
Other groups found with less frequency (<20%) were Acari, Blattodea, Stratyomiidae, Muscidae (Diptera), and Mordellidae (Coleoptera). The high prevalence of the order Coleoptera was expected, once this is the biggest order of insect, with more that 250,000 known species.