(SGER) Pilot Expedition for Multi-Taxa Biodiversity Surveys in the Bolivian Andes

American Museum Natural History, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract The tropical Andes are an epicenter of global diversity, containing more plant and vertebrate species and higher levels of endemism than any other biodiversity hotspot. Information on the distribution of species within the Bolivian Andes is critical for conservation priority setting and management, and is of general interest to the fields of taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography. Yet for most taxa, the Bolivian portion of this globally important region remains one of the most poorly surveyed segments of the entire Andean chain. The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Coleccion Boliviana de Fauna (CBF), and the Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (MHNNKM) have formed a consortium to study this poorly surveyed region. The consortium has developed plans for a series of multi-taxa surveys across elevational gradients in two Andean protected areas that the Bolivian government has identified as critical management challenges: Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Cotapata and Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Amboro. Birds, fish, herpetofauna, and invertebrates will be sampled simultaneously using standardized collection methods along an elevational gradient of over 3000 meters. Large biotic survey projects are increasingly recognized as cost-effective means to making significant progress in understanding the biogeography and systematics of a variety of taxa. But surveys of this magnitude require extensive logistical and methodological considerations. In preparation for this major initiative, a pilot survey at a single site in Parque Nacional and Area de Manejo Integrado Amboro, Bolivia, will be conducted to initiate the consortium's field activities and finalize protocols for future surveys. Goals for the proposed pilot survey are to: 1) Quantify the amount of time and sampling effort necessary either to reach an asymptote in species encounter rates or to statistically estimate the true species richness at a site. 2) Evaluate the feasibility of barcoding and tracking specimens from the time of their collection at remote field sites, through the preparation and identification phases, to their accession into museum collections. 3) Fully standardize invertebrate sampling methods. 4) Send a small team to visit each of the additional proposed study sites in Amoboro and Cotapata in order to efficiently coordinate future visits. The development of a suite of standardized biodiversity survey techniques and quantifying the sampling effort needed to adequately assess species richness or endemism has the potential to make biodiversity surveys more efficient and extend their application to wider areas. The use of microbarcode and databasing technologies is already leading to enormous efficiencies in biodiversity surveys and collection management, particularly for invertebrates. By developing and implementing field-based protocols for using these technologies, this study will help expand the application of these digital advances to field surveys. The results of this pilot expedition will help streamline the design and execution of multi-taxa surveys in Andean regions, and will in particular inform the design of the proposed series of surveys in Bolivia.