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201304Oct09:45

South­east Suri­name: sci­en­tists doc­u­ment new bio­di­ver­sity and pris­tine ecosystems

Infor­ma­tion
pub­lished 04 Octo­ber 2013 | mod­i­fied 13 Sep­tem­ber 2014
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Explor­ing for the first time the most remote forests in the green­est coun­try in the world, sci­en­tists with Con­ser­va­tion International’s Rapid Assess­ment Pro­gram doc­u­ment new species and climate-​resilient sources of fresh­wa­ter and other ecosys­tem services

Suriname map CIAn inter­na­tional team of field biol­o­gists study­ing the never-​before assessed moun­tain­ous region of South­east­ern Suri­name — a wilder­ness area vir­tu­ally with­out any human influ­ence and among the most remote and unex­plored tracts of rain­for­est left on Earth — has dis­cov­ered a wealth of ecosys­tem ser­vices whose pro­tec­tion will be essen­tial for the country’s cli­mate resilience, fresh­wa­ter secu­rity, and green devel­op­ment strat­egy. The sci­en­tific expe­di­tion also doc­u­mented an amaz­ing rich­ness of bio­di­ver­sity, includ­ing 60 species that are likely new to sci­ence and unique species that may exist nowhere else on Earth.

Fol­low­ing the three-​week 2012 expe­di­tion and sub­se­quent data analy­sis, the group of 16 sci­en­tists col­lab­o­rat­ing inCon­ser­va­tion International’s Rapid Assess­ment Pro­gram have just pub­lished their results. Among the key find­ings is the impor­tance of fresh water in the region. The area’s moun­tain ranges con­tain the head­wa­ters of some of the largest rivers in Suri­name, pro­vid­ing vital water for trans­porta­tion, food (espe­cially fish), drink­ing and san­i­ta­tion for approx­i­mately 50,000 peo­ple in the sur­round­ing areas as well as along the river and as far as Para­maribo, the country’s cap­i­tal near the Atlantic coast.

These head­wa­ters also sup­port down­stream energy pro­duc­tion, agri­cul­ture and other eco­nomic activ­i­ties. Con­ser­va­tion Inter­na­tional (CI) sci­en­tists found that while other parts of Suri­name are likely to become drier, South­east Suri­name will be most resilient to cli­mate change, and is there­fore dis­pro­por­tion­ately impor­tant for ensur­ing sus­tain­able flows of water in the future. Ensur­ing these forested head­wa­ters remain intact is vital for the country’s peo­ple and econ­omy, and a future resource for the region and the world.

The high num­ber of new species dis­cov­ered is evi­dence of the amaz­ing bio­di­ver­sity of these forests [South­east Suri­name] that we have only just begun to uncover
« Dr. Leeanne Alonso, expe­di­tion leader, ant expert, Global Wildlife Conservation

John Goed­schalk, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of CI Suri­name, said: “Suriname’s dense forests, low defor­esta­tion and spec­tac­u­lar rivers place us in a truly unique posi­tion to become a global model of sus­tain­able devel­op­ment. We can be water exporters in a world increas­ingly suf­fer­ing from droughts and water scarcity, but if we deplete and pol­lute these bio­log­i­cal trea­sures, our coun­try and the rest of the world will have one less major water resource. In a planet on track to sur­pass nine bil­lion peo­ple by mid-​century, we are going to need every drop of fresh water we can get.”

Suri­name is located in the Guiana Shield, a vast wilder­ness area in South Amer­ica, which con­tains more than 25% of the world’s rain­for­est. The coun­try has a rel­a­tively low pop­u­la­tion and still main­tains 95% of its for­est cover, but faces pres­sure from min­ing, road and dam projects. For more than 20 years, CI has been work­ing with Suriname’s gov­ern­ment and local com­mu­ni­ties to sci­en­tif­i­cally assess and pro­tect its nat­ural cap­i­tal to serve as an engine for the country’s and region’s sus­tain­able development.

Margay suriname CICI was instru­men­tal in the cre­ation of the 1.6 mil­lion hectare Cen­tral Suri­name Nature Reserve, the largest con­served tract of trop­i­cal rain­for­est at the time of its cre­ation. The intact forests of South­east Suri­name pro­vide a bio­log­i­cal cor­ri­dor link­ing this reserve with adja­cent pro­tected areas and indige­nous lands in neigh­bour­ing coun­tries, enabling the move­ment of plants and ani­mals that is essen­tial for their long-​term per­sis­tence. Its forests and rivers also pro­vide an essen­tial source of food, build­ing mate­ri­als, and med­i­cines for the local Trio and Wayana Amerindian tribes.

“Suri­name is one of the last places where an oppor­tu­nity still exists to con­serve mas­sive tracts of untouched for­est and pris­tine rivers where bio­di­ver­sity is thriv­ing. Ensur­ing the preser­va­tion of these ecosys­tems is not only vital for the Suri­namese peo­ple, but may help the world to meet its grow­ing demand for food and water as well as reduc­ing the impacts of cli­mate change,” said Dr. Trond Larsen, a trop­i­cal ecol­o­gist and Direc­tor of the Rapid Assess­ment Pro­gram at Con­ser­va­tion Inter­na­tional, which has some­times been described as work­ing like a “SWAT” team for science.

The team sur­veyed four sites in the upper Palumeu River water­shed, going from low flood­plains to iso­lated moun­tain peaks. They received invalu­able sup­port from 30 indige­nous men from nearby com­mu­ni­ties, who went ahead in boats through dan­ger­ous rapids to help bring 2,000 kilos of food and equip­ment, set up camp sites, cook meals and guide the team through the forests. From Para­maribo, the sci­en­tists char­tered a plane to a vil­lage in South­east Suri­name and from there reached their first camp site by helicopter.

The sci­en­tists col­lected data on water qual­ity and an aston­ish­ing total of 1,378 species, includ­ing plants, ants, bee­tles, katy­dids, fishes, amphib­ians, birds and mam­mals. The results show high qual­ity water con­di­tions over­all, although some sam­ples con­tained mer­cury above safe lev­els for human con­sump­tion, despite the fact that there is no upstream min­ing. “The mer­cury is prob­a­bly blow­ing in from min­ing and indus­trial activ­i­ties in neigh­bour­ing coun­tries. This demon­strates that even remote places are inter­con­nected and sus­cep­ti­ble to activ­i­ties in other coun­tries”, explained Dr. Larsen.


Upon her return from this intense three-​week sur­vey, which included a flooded base camp after a night of heavy rain­fall and a heli­copter with mechan­i­cal dif­fi­cul­ties,Dr. Leeanne Alonso, expe­di­tion leader, ant expert, and for­mer CI sci­en­tist who is now withGlobal Wildlife Con­ser­va­tion, said: “I have con­ducted expe­di­tions all over the world, but never have I seen such beau­ti­ful, pris­tine forests so untouched by humans. South­ern Suri­name is one of the last places on earth where there is a large expanse of pris­tine trop­i­cal for­est. The high num­ber of new species dis­cov­ered is evi­dence of the amaz­ing bio­di­ver­sity of these forests that we have only just begun to uncover.”

Among the 60 species iden­ti­fied as poten­tially new to sci­ence, there were six frogs, one snake, 11 fishes and many insects, includ­ing:


Lilliputian beetle> the diminu­tive “lil­liput­ian bee­tle(Can­thid­ium cf. min­i­mum), a teeny-​tiny ruby red bee­tle mea­sur­ing mere 2.3 mm, likely mak­ing it the small­est dung bee­tle in the Guiana Shield and maybe the sec­ond small­est in South Amer­ica. Its antler-​like anten­nae pro­vide it with an acute sense of smell. “Dung bee­tles play crit­i­cal eco­log­i­cal roles that help sup­port healthy ecosys­tems. By bury­ing dung, they reg­u­late par­a­sites and dis­ease, dis­perse seeds, and recy­cle nutri­ents to pro­mote plant growth,” said Dr. Larsen.

Cocoa frog> the “cocoa frog” (Hypsi­boas sp.), a sleek chocolate-​coloured frog that lives on trees and uses the round discs found on its fin­gers and toes to adeptly climb into the tree­tops. “Like other amphib­ians, its semi-​permeable skin makes it highly sen­si­tive to changes in the envi­ron­ment, espe­cially fresh­wa­ter. With over 100 species of frogs likely gone extinct over just the last three decades, the dis­cov­ery of this new species is espe­cially heart­en­ing,” said Dr. Larsen.


Head-and-taillight tetra> a new type of head-​and-​tail-​light tetra(Hem­i­gram­mus aff. ocel­lifer), closely related to a fish much appre­ci­ated by aquar­ium enthu­si­asts. Fish were diverse and plen­ti­ful at the study sites, includ­ing many large fishes that are an impor­tant source of food for local peo­ple. The upper water­sheds of SE Suri­name may also pro­vide impor­tant spawn­ing grounds for migra­tory fishes peo­ple through­out Suri­name depend upon.


(Source: Con­ser­va­tion Inter­na­tional press release, 02.10.2013)

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Tiger map” (CC BY 2.5) by Sander­son et al., 2006.

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