By tracking blue-yellow macaws, scientists hope to determine the size and shape of the birds' range. photo: WWF / Sue Palmiteri

Goal 1. Determine the size and configuration of core protected areas and surrounding habitats needed to conserve Amazon species.

How large an area do wide-ranging birds and mammals need to survive in healthy populations? The AREAS Project team hopes to answer this question through studies of wide-ranging and migratory species such as macaws, jaguars, and peccaries.

We aim to answer this question by collecting scientific data on the spatial movements and habitat use of the following wide-ranging and/or migratory species:

• jaguar (Panthera onca)
• short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis)
• white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari)
• giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
• fruit crow (Gymnoderus foetidus)
• red and green macaw (Ara chloroptera), blue and yellow macaw (A. ararauna), scarlet macaw (A. macao)

Other terrestrial species, the movements of which are poorly known, will be included in our research when feasible. These already include giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) and may include Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and monk saki monkey (Pithecia monachus). The project aims to quantify habitat requirements of these wide-ranging Amazon species in order to improve the design of protected and managed conservation areas.

Since scientists have not yet determined how much forest is needed to support populations of all native species, our study concentrates on these wide-ranging focal species to estimate the adequate size and spatial configuration of protected and managed areas needed to conserve Amazonian biodiversity.

Our assumption is that making parks large enough for this suite of species should ensure that the areas are large enough for most (ideally all) other species native to the region. Through this study, we expect to improve scientific procedures for designing protected areas to best represent biodiversity values and ecological processes in the Amazon headwaters region, as well as better determine the minimum size requirements for protected areas of the Amazon.

Goal 2: Estimate the habitats, species, and ecological processes necessary to maintain freshwater biodiversity in the upper Amazon basin.

The AREAS project is collaborating with scientists from Peru and the United States to investigate how to best integrate terrestrial and freshwater conservation activities in the upper Amazon basin.

Project collaborators are modeling hydrological, physical, and geo-morphological information on the Madre de Dios basin in southeastern Peru to serve as a guide in determining how much and which parts of upland watersheds and floodplain forests must be conserved in a natural state to not only maintain freshwater flow and quality but also to protect freshwater species and their habitats over time.

Goal 3: Develop and improve radio-tracking technology.

Radio transmitter tags allow scientists to collect critical information for determining the size requirements of protected areas for resident animal species and where conservation corridors should be positioned to allow genetic exchange among increasingly isolated populations.

However, since transmitters' range and lifespan are limited by their weight, use of current technology requires intensive human and financial input and does not allow multi-year studies. In the Amazon, we also face large expanses of dense forest through which researchers cannot always reach their target animals.

The AREAS Project is collaborating with engineers at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology, who are developing not only new radio tags but also novel network tracking systems.

Our aim is to generate technical improvements that improve the weight-lifetime performance of wildlife radio tags and that will enable scientific conservation studies to improve our knowledge and perspective of Amazonian habitat use.

New tools developed with these technologies will help to measure the dynamic responses of animals to changes in land-use as land-use policies are implemented, as well as monitor animals in protected areas, to produce scientific results that inspire and educate political leaders and the public, and engage their interest in the journeys of those animals that bind large regions into ecological units.