Get WLT Projects News delivered to your desktop How does this work? » More WLT news feeds »

Conservation Project News

Conservation projects news from the World Land Trust, an international wildlife conservation charity working to protect threatened wildlife habitats worldwide.

This page shows the most recent projects news updates, or a selection of posts in the same category. To read older posts, use the projects news archive in the navigation bar on this page. The newest posts can always be found at www.worldlandtrust.org/news/projects-news.htm.

Conservation projects news on this page:

Tuesday, 23 September 2008:

Four new species of frog and other news from Fundación EcoMinga (Ecuador) 

Top: The four new species of frogs discovered in the EcoMinga reserves. Above: A (dead) harlequin frog. Photos by Juan Pablo Reyes (Click on the images to see larger versions.)

Herpetologists from the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales (Ecuadorian Museum of Natural Sciences) have been surveying EcoMinga's reserves and have discovered four apparently new species of frogs in and around the reserves. They estimate that the total number of frog species in the Cerro Candelaria Reserve (EcoMinga's largest reserve, bought with major individual and corporate donations to the World Land Trust) is around forty. This is good news in a world where most news about frogs is very depressing.

The herpetologists were especially thrilled to find a surviving population of a harlequin frog (Atelopus palmatus) that was thought to be extinct; this was found near EcoMinga's Rio Zuñac reserve. Their investigations of EcoMinga's reserves were funded by WLT trustee Nigel Simpson.

Andrew Smiley from WLT visited the Candelaria Reserve in May to investigate the possibility of involving the reserve's neighbours in organic shade-grown coffee, which can be grown under a canopy of native trees. If agreement can be reached the coffee would be sold directly to Puro Coffee for their premium organic "bird-friendly" brands. This would improve the lives of local farmers and result in reforestation of current pasturelands.

Meanwhile, reforestation continues on former pastures along the edge of the Cerro Candelaria reserve. EcoMinga personnel are rapidly learning how to reconstruct a natural forest of high diversity in these former pastures. Over one thousand trees have now been planted.

Report from Lou Jost, Fundación EcoMinga

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Thursday, 17 July 2008:

Threatened White-breasted Parakeet gets helping hand at Tapichalaca (Ecuador) 

The White-breasted Parakeet (Pyrrhura albipectus)

Also known as the White-necked Parakeet, this species is only known to occur in three areas in south-east (Amazonia) Ecuador, of which Podocarpus National Park is one of its last strongholds. Fundación Jocotoco's Tapichalaca Reserve, which abuts Podocarpus, has a small population, in recently acquired low altitude land, and since the species' total population is estimated to be only a few thousand individuals, FJ has just started a project in an effort to boost numbers on the reserve.

As a follow-up to the successful nest-box project for the El-Oro Parakeet on the Buenaventura Reserve, nest boxes are to be installed at Tapichalaca for the White-breasted Parakeet. The design of these boxes has been greatly assisted by cooperation with Pro Aves Colombia, and the Loro Parque Foundation of Spain is generously funding the work.

Two years there were reports of a small flock being recorded just across the border in Peru, but was apparently unfortunately collected in the name of science. The collecting of species already declared globally threatened is something we do not condone since accurate identification, and recording, can now be carried out using latest photographic technology.

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador, through which the World Land Trust supports Fundación Jocotoco's reserves

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Tuesday, 1 July 2008:

New land purchases in Brazil (Matumbo Gap) and Ecuador (Cerro Candelaria) 

In the recent eBulletin, two new land purchases were announced: A further 4 properties in the 'Matumbo Gap' have been purchased by REGUA, WLT's partners in Brazil. In Ecuador, Fundación Ecominga has secured a further 400 hectares of land, which means that the river that passes through the Cerro Candelaria Reserve will now be protected on both banks.

Labels: Brazil, Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Wednesday, 30 April 2008:

Ecuador's Minister of Tourism visits Buenaventura Reserve (Ecuador) 

Recognising the wealth of wildlife protected by Fundación Jocotoco Reserves, Ecuador's Minister of Tourism, Veronica Sion de Josse, together with her husband and son, recently visited the Buenaventura Reserve.

This year's tree planting activities are in full swing at the reserve and as well as helping plant some tree seedlings, the minister and her family were captivated by the webcam, strategically placed in front of a hummingbird feeder. As can be seen in the photo, the visitors enjoyed watching not only the multitude of birds coming to the feeders but also a group of coatis, who frequently turn up to feast on bananas and other fruit.

See the hummingbird webcam in action

Learn more about the Buenaventura Reserve

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Tuesday, 29 April 2008:

A visit to two totally different potential reserve sites in Ecuador 

The Ayampe River valley (top), home of the Esmeraldas Woodstar hummingbird (above). Click on the images to see larger versions.


The Northern Ghost Bat, about which little is known. Click on the image to see a larger version.


Andean Fox (also known as the Paramo Wolf) in Antisana. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Last month the World Land Trust's Chairman, Renton Righelato, made a self-funded trip to Ecuador to join representatives of Fundación Jocotoco exploring two potential new reserve sites.

"Ecuador is remarkable in the diversity of its natural habitats and the range of species they contain - this is why it is such an important area for the World Land Trust. In February, Nigel Simpson and I were lucky enough to be part of a team from our Ecuadorean partner, Fundación Jocotoco, exploring two, wholly different, potential new reserve sites: Ayampe, warm and at sea level; and Antisana, at 4,000-6,000 metres and cold!"

"Near the settlement of Ayampe in the warm, semi-arid, Tumbesian region, where the River Ayampe enters the Pacific, is a pocket of more humid forest. It is one of two known sites of an endangered and virtually unknown hummingbird - the Esmeraldas Woodstar - a bird not much bigger than a bumble bee. Here we saw a male displaying by towering from its treetop perch out of sight in the sky and diving back down to a nearby female, who is then left to do everything else, nest-building, incubating and feeding the young, on her own. It was reassuring to see several nests, some with eggs and one with a tiny chick. The Jocotoco researchers will be returning later in the year to learn more of the life history of this species and work out how best to protect it."

"There were bigger things to see as well - including parties of Magnificent Frigate Birds soaring over and the remarkable Ghost Bat pictured here."

"In contrast, the paramo on the slopes of the high volcanoes of Ecuador is cold and wet. Like alpine meadows, unspoilt paramo is a rich mixture of plants with many beautiful flowers; but years of overgrazing and drainage have degraded much of it and plantation of foreign pine defaced it."

"Antisana is home to some of the few remaining Great Condors of Ecuador, which can occasionally be seen feeding on carcases of dead animals, along with the beautiful Paramo Wolf (really a large fox), shown here."

"The prospect of protecting and restoring up to 100,000 hectares of paramo and of polylepis forest of the lower slopes of one of the great volcanoes could not be more exciting - we await further news from Fundación Jocotoco."

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador and the reserves protected by Fundación Jocotoco.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Monday, 28 April 2008:

John Sparks visits the Jocotoco Foundation's reserves in Ecuador 

John (in the foreground) and Sally meeting with the Jocotoco Foundation at Tapichalaca Reserve. In the background, from left: Niels Krabbe (ornithologist) and Rene Rivas (Forester at the Foundation) .


While at the Tapichalaca Reserve, John Sparks had good views of the Jocotoco Antpitta and took various pictures, including this one, which appears in his account of the trip.

Former Head of BBC Natural History Unit, Dr John Sparks has been a friend of the World Land Trust for a long time. He has travelled all over the world making wildlife films, including five of Sir David Attenborough's Life on Earth programmes.

In January John, and his wife, Sally, visited Ecuador and spent time at two of the reserves owned and managed by WLT's Ecuadorian partners, the Jocotoco Foundation: Buenaventura and Tapichalaca. He has recently posted a wonderfully illustrated account of his visit on his website.

Amongst the birds John saw was the endangered Jocotoco Antpitta. Here is an extract of John's account of meeting these birds, sometimes described as 'melons with pogo-stick legs':

"Franco duly sliced up the long, juicy forest worms and called the Antpittas. They needed no encouragement because within a minute or two, we got our first view of these secretive, groundliving birds."

"The adults were recognisable by their very white cheeks - the immatures were less distinctly marked. One juvenile was 7 months old and another only about one month. It is thought that in this species, the older young help their parents to rear their younger siblings. If so, I might have obtained some proof of this trait because I managed to obtain some shots of the two youngest birds in deep cover by changing the sensitivity of the camera to 1600ASA (no flash equipment is allowed on this site)."

Read the full account, visit John Sparks' website. (Choose the pdf document named "Two Rain Forests".)

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

First camera trap photo of Mountain Tapir (Ecuador) 

This is the first camera trap photograph of a Mountain Tapir taken at Tapichalaca, although they are occasionally seen.

The tapir is the largest native mammal in South America and is classed are Endangered. They weigh up to 300 kilos and measure approx 2 m from snout to tail, however they are relatively short in height standing at about 1.2 metres at the shoulder. An unusual feature of the tapir is its toed, or 'split' hoof, which spreads to form toes: four on the front and three on the back.

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Friday, 29 February 2008:

New land purchases in Ecuador and Paraguay 

New land has been bought in Ecuador adjacent to Yanacocha (top), and in Paraguay in San Rafael (middle) and in the Dry Chaco (bottom). (Click on the images to see larger versions.)

88 hectares in Ecuador:

World Land Trust project partners in Ecuador, Fundación Jocotoco, have recently purchased a strategic piece of land to expand their reserve at Yanacocha. This 88 hectare area is situated in high altitude Polylepis forest, a habitat type which is seriously depleted throughout the Andes.

The purchase was vital as the land was likely to be developed if it had not been secured by Jocotoco.

The land is targeted for tree planting to restore the forest that has been lost and will guarantee employment for Jocotoco staff for an additional two years.

600 hectares in San Rafael, Paraguay:

In Paraguay, WLT partner organisation Guyra Paraguay have managed to add more land to two of their reserves; San Rafael and the Dry Chaco.

The purchase of 600 hectares adjacent to Guyra's core reserve area in San Rafael National Park means that they now manage and protect 6,600 hectares of endangered Atlantic Rainforest in the south-east of Paraguay.

The demonstrable support from WLT donors has enabled matched funding from two US foundations: WLT-US and American Bird Conservancy. With continued commitment from WLT Guyra aims to secure more habitat as well as continuing to carry out forest restoration and research.

3,500 hectares in the Chaco, Paraguay:

Guyra recently secured 3,500 hectares of threatened arid habitat in the northwest of Paraguay - their first purchase in this region. The next phase of Guyra's project in the Dry Chaco is the purchase of 3,000 hectares with the overall aim to eventually secure 13,000 hectares in total.

The Dry Chaco is an extremely vulnerable ecosystem and is disappearing at an alarming rate. As well as being overwhelmed by agricultural expansion the Dry Chaco is particularly vulnerable to disturbance.

John Burton, WLT CEO, visited the Dry Chaco recently and he says "it was astounding how the tracks of tanks used in the Chaco War in the 1930s were still visible - the habitat is so fragile it can take a century or more to regenerate."

Please help us save this unique habitat:
Make a donation to the Chaco/Pantanal Project.

Learn more about WLT's projects in Ecuador and Paraguay:

• Help Save the Rainforests: Tropical Forest Project, Ecuador
• Saving the Paraguayan Landscapes: Chaco/Pantanal Project, Paraguay

Edit 3rd March: The recent purchase in the Dry Chaco was for 3,500 ha, not 350 ha as previously stated, and the next purchase is for 3,000 ha, not 300 ha.

Labels: Ecuador, Paraguay

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Friday, 1 February 2008:

Sir David Attenborough presented with new tree at World Land Trust webcam launch 

Lou Jost and Sir David Attenborough with an image of the flowers of a newly discovered tree species that will be named in honour of Sir David.

Sir David Attenborough, Patron of the World Land Trust (WLT) recently attended an event at the Linnean Society, London, where he launched WLT's new wildlife webcam project. Following the launch, Sir David was presented with the naming rights of a new tree species discovered by botanist Lou Jost in the newly purchased Candalaria reserve. Lou Jost, from Fundación EcoMinga, was also present at the launch and he presented Sir David with a photograph of the stunning flowers of this tree, which is new to science. This tree was found on a recent exploration of the reserve by Lou Jost who was at the time accompanied by WLT's Jack Astbury and Andy Orchard from Puro coffee who were in Ecuador setting up the webcam.

To celebrate the launch of the webcam we are offering a fantastic prize: A week's accommodation at the Umbrella Bird Lodge in the Buenaventura reserve for the first person who discovers a new species of hummingbird whilst watching the webcam. All you have to do if you think you have discovered the 33rd species is freeze frame the footage. You can find full details on this competition on the Wildlife Focus website shortly.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Thursday, 31 January 2008:

Rapid forest regeneration at Buenaventura (Ecuador) 

These photographs record the growth of the World Land Trust's 'exhibit tree' in the Buenaventura Reserve, Ecuador, owned and managed by WLT partners Fundación Jocotoco.

The photo at the top was taken at the planting ceremony in November 2004 when Nigel Simpson, a WLT Trustee and co-founder of Fundación Jocotoco, and Jane Krish (also a WLT Trustee) were visiting Ecuador. The photograph shows FJ staff members Javier Robeyo and Leonidas Cabrera with the small seedling Inga tree.

The photograph in the centre, demonstrating the growth of the tree, with Nigel Simpson standing alongside, was taken in 2006 and in November 2007 the photo below it was taken. As Nigel says, "it is now too big to fit in my camera frame"!

This spectacular growth shows the ability for forest regeneration in hot and wet areas that have been cleared in the past. Inga trees are particularly good species for soil restoration, and the fruits and seeds provide important food for wildlife.

Left: Rene Rivas, (FJ's forester) is seen here wearing his WLT Tree T-shirt. He is standing alongside one of this year's plantings in the Buenaventura Reserve.

Click on any of the images to see larger versions.

Learn more about WLT's Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Friday, 14 December 2007:

Hummingbird feeders attract nightly visitors (Ecuador) 

Bats taking advantage of nectar feeders put up in Ecuador to attract hummingbirds. (Photos © Gustavo Morejón.) Click on the images to see larger versions.

"There is activity at night!" So wrote Gustavo Morejón who is working on a World Land Trust project in the heart of the Buenaventura forest in Ecuador.

Over the past few months, Gustavo, an Ecuadorian biologist, has been working with WLT's Jack Astbury on a new project at Buenaventura, using nectar and fruit feeders to attract wildlife to the trial site. Initially these were set up to attract hummingbirds, but Gustavo was overjoyed to find bats visiting the feeders at night. Other visitors to the feeders so far have included toucans and coati (a small racoon-like mammal, referred to locally as cuchucho), all gathering to munch on bananas!

Hummingbirds are genetically programmed to seek out bright red objects since that is the colour of many nectar-rich flowers, so to maximise visits from these birds the feeders - large plastic trays - are red. They are filled with sugar-water to supplement their food source, although the birds prefer real nectar, so there is no risk of the flowers being left unpollinated.

Motion or heat sensitive cameras, so called "camera traps", are being used in other parts of the Ecuador reserves. The cameras are attached to trees and automatically take photos when an animal strolls past, triggered by their movement or body heat. This technique gives us the opportunity to see rare animals going about their business undisturbed. We are hoping to be able to use camera traps to capture footage of the many different types of animals living in this part of the reserve also.

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

New species of glassfrog discovered in Buenaventura Reserve (Ecuador) 

Cochranella buenaventura sp. nov. - a new species of glassfrog in Ecuador. (Photo by Mario Yánez of MECN.)

A new species of glassfrog has been discovered in Buenaventura, one of the reserves owned and managed by WLT's Ecuadorian partners Fundación Jocotoco. The frog, named Cochranella buenaventura sp. nov. was discovered in the southern foothills of the Cordillera Occidental, Andes of Ecuador, where it inhabits the Seasonal Foothill Evergreen forests of the province of El Oro. The new species differ from other glassfrogs in several ways, including its truncate snout, reduced webbing between fingers and bright yellow hands and feet discs.

The study, undertaken by the Museo Ecuatoriano Ciencias Naturales (MECN) in Quito, Ecuador, was funded by WLT Trustee Nigel Simpson (The Simpson Education and Conservation Trust) through Fundación Jocotoco.

You can read the abstract of this study online:
Cisneros-Heredia DF, Yánez-Muñoz MH (2007) A New Species of Glassfrog (Centrolenidae) from the Southern Andean Foothills on the West Ecuadorian Region. South American Journal of Herpetology: Vol. 2, No. 1 pp. 1?10

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Tuesday, 27 November 2007:

Tree planting at Buenaventura (Ecuador) 

Tree nursery, Buenaventura Reserve, Ecuador. Click on the image to see more of the nursery.

Latest news from our Ecuadorian partners:

The tree planting is well under way for 2007, and this photo shows the nursery at Buenaventura, with several thousand seedlings of 17 species of tree flourishing. Over the next few months they will be planted in areas adjacent to existing forests to extend the areas for wildlife. The nursery also provides secure employment for several people and their families around the reserve.

Learn more about the Tropical Forest Project in Ecuador.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Monday, 17 September 2007:

Golden-plumed Parakeets nest in Tapichalaca Reserve (Ecuador) 

Golden-plumed parakeets in a palm tree. Click on the image to see a larger version.

The Golden-plumed Parakeet (Leptosittaca branickii is classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and numbers are thought to be as low as 400 birds. They only occur in fragmented habitats in montane forest on the east slope of the Andes from northern Colombia and Ecuador to Peru in temperate cloud and elfin forest at 2,400-3,400 m, occasionally lower. They depend on Wax palms (Ceroxylon sp) in which they take refuge and make their nests, and are heavily dependent on Podocarpus cones for food.

Golden-plumed parakeets are present in Podocarpus National Park and these birds were photographed on the border of the Christopher Parsons sector of the Jocotoco Foundation's Tapichalaca Reserve and the Podocarpus National Park, nesting in a dead Wax palm. Both Wax Palms and Podocarpus trees are being lost through deforestation and this does not bode well for the future of these parakeets, outside protected areas. On Palm Sunday this year there was a high profile campaign in Quito, supported by the church, to encourage people to wave corn stalks and branches from ornamental plants instead of traditional palm fronds and the woven crosses made from Wax palm, in an attempt to alert people to the plight of the Golden-plumed Parakeet.

Another bird, the Yellow-eared parrot, also depended on the Wax palm for its survival but there have been no confirmed sightings in Ecuador for eight years.

The Christopher Parsons rainforest was purchased from funds raised by World Land Trust in memory of Christopher Parsons, a WLT Trustee, who died in 2002. He was the producer of Life on Earth and a close friend of Sir David Attenborough.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Friday, 14 September 2007:

Mountain Agoutis photographed in Tapichalaca (Ecuador) 

(Top) Mountain Agousti being fed in Tapichalaca. (Bottom) One of the animals visiting the reserve. See a larger image of the Agouti (use your back button to return here.)

A family group of these wild Mountain Agoutis (Cuniculus taczanowskii), belonging to the paca family, arrived in the store room at the Tapichalaca lodge in Ecuador recently. One of the park rangers tried a few tasty morsels which seemed to go down very well before they wandered off back into their rainforest retreat.

The Mountain Agouti is a large rodent which is Endangered throughout its range, and has rarely been photographed in the wild. (This may even be the first photograph for Ecuador).

Mountain Agoutis are mainly nocturnal and feed on a wide variety of vegetable matter including fallen fruit, roots, leaves and seeds. Because of the damage they cause to crops they have been relentlessly persecuted in agricultural areas in the past and have been intensively hunted for their flesh which is highly prized.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Tuesday, 26 June 2007:

Capturing Wildlife on film at Río Canandé and Buenaventura (Ecuador) 

Some of the animals captured by the cameras at Río Canandé and Bunaventura. Click on the images to see larger versions.

Volunteer Ivan Samuels has been busy in the Fundación Jocotoco reserves putting up camera traps to film wildlife as they go about their business undisturbed. These cameras, equipped with infrared triggers, not only photograph wildlife which has not been seen by humans, but also provides invaluable information on the wildlife and their preferred habitats.

The Canandé Reserve protects one of the last remnants of intact forest in a region that has been heavily cleared and fragmented for plantations of bananas, oil palm, pepper, and other export crops. Designed to protect a suite of critically endangered birds in the Chocó region of Ecuador, the reserve benefits other animals as well: The Jaguar, filmed in May, can roam safely in the more than 3,000 acres (1288 ha) that the Canandé Reserve protects.

The animals pictured here are, from the top: Ocelot (or possibly a Margay), Tawny-faced Wood Quail, Jaguar, Collared Peccary and Puma. All were photographed at the Canandé Reserve apart from the Puma, which was captured at Buenaventura.

The cameras have also captured antpittas, a host of Rodentia - and the legs of many of the bird watchers using the trail!

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Monday, 30 April 2007:

Jocotoco Antpittas monitored using transmitters (Ecuador) 

Antpitta being fitted with transmitter.

The Jocotoco Antpitta is the emblem of Fundación Jocotoco (FJ), WLT's partner organisation in Ecuador. This species of antpitta was only discovered in 1997 and FJ's first reserve at Tapichalaca was set up to protect the critically threatened habitat where they were found. Almost the entire known population of the antpitta occurs in this one location and the best place for viewing them is in an area of bamboo thicket quite close to the visitor lodge.

In order to reduce disturbance in the forest the antpittas have been trained to answer a call from the warden. Here an antpitta is being fitted with a tiny transmitter so that its activities can be monitored more closely. Very little is known about the habits of endemic birds in the Ecuadorian reserves and learning more about their movements will help identify areas which need protection in order to help their numbers increase.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Thursday, 26 April 2007:

Two new project partners for WLT in Ecuador 

WLT has recently signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with two new project partners in Ecuador: Pro Bosque, who administer the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest, near Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, and the Ecominga Foundation, established by botanical expert, Lou Jost, to save areas of prime botanical importance.

The Cerro Blanco forest protects the best remaining Ecuadorian deciduous forests, now reduced to 1% of its former extent; the flagship species is the critically endangered Ecuadorian subspecies of the Great Green Macaw. WLT is working with Pro Bosque to reconnect and extend the forest area and is funding a tree planting project. WLT is also involved in raising funds for two reserves through the Ecominga Foundation.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Monday, 19 March 2007:

Co-operation in Saving Rare Orchid Sites (Ecuador) 

Botanist Lou Jost, who has been surveying the orchids on FJ reserves for the past few years, has been working on three important botanical sites in the Pastaza valley, in an unprotected strip of forest between Sangay and Llanganates National Parks, which the WLT will be raising funds for to protect. One small area of limestone gorge along the Rio Anzu was found to contain a spectacular display of thousands of slipper orchids and while there Lou Jost discovered about 20 new species of Teagueia orchids, and a further 25 in a genus which previously had only 6 known species. (For further information visit Lou's website: www.loujost.com)

Meanwhile, WLT-US is providing funds to EcoMinga Foundation, where Lou Jost is a biodiversity specialist, to identify, purchase and mange critical sites for the conservation of endangered orchids in Ecuador. One of the priority areas is the Mera forest in central Ecuador. Situated between the Andes and the Amazon basin, this is a rich center of endemism providing home to 51 unique plant species endemic to this very small area.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Successful breeding of El Oro Parakeets in artificial nest boxes at Buenaventura (Ecuador) 

El Oro Parakeets on top of one of the nest boxes (top) and eggs laid by one of the parakeet pairs. Click on the images to see larger versions.

The El Oro Parakeet was only discovered in 1980 and not described until 1988 and it is only known to occur in the Buenaventura reserve which is owned and protected by WLT's project partners, the Jocotoco Foundation.

In an attempt to boost numbers, in 2006 FJ installed 39 next boxes which have been closely monitored.

The boxes have proved to be very successful so far, and we recently received reports that at least 10 eggs had been laid in three of the boxes.

Labels: Ecuador

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends