Planning Visit for a Faunal Survey of Western Amazonia

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

0084704 Albert This Americas award will support travel and related expenses for a Planning Visit to Peru organized by Dr. James S. Albert, University of Florida, with the collaboration of one Canadian and two other Latin American researchers from several zoological disciplines. The proposed visit is to organize a faunal survey of floating meadows in the Pacaya-Samiria National Park, a highly diverse aquatic community in the Peruvian Amazon. The planning visit will help to forge a research methodology and reach agreement on specific research sites. Since the proposed research will be interdisciplinary, it is essential that the organizers have an opportunity to agree on conceptual approaches and practical field research methods. Documenting the fauna of floating meadows is essential for planning fisheries management and conservation in the Amazon, and the future project will provide baseline biodiversity and genetic data for use in future studies in systematics, ecology, and conservation biology. ***