LETTER FROM THE AMAZON - Amazon Conservation Association

Letter from the Amazon January-March, 2010
RESEARCH: Recent
Publications
Mariajose Deza: arachnids of CICRA
Mariajose received her BA from
la Universidad Nacional Agraria
la Molina. As an ACCA grantee,
she studied the abundance and
diversity of spiders (Aranaeidae)
at CICRA for her certification as
a biologist. Mariajose’s study,
Diversity and species richness of the family Araneidae
(Arachnida, Araneae) in CICRA (Madre de Dios—Peru)
was completed and accepted for publication in Ecologia
Aplicada this past year.
Editorial continued below.
Alison Ravenscraft: Ants and plants
Alison Ravenscraft, Harvard ’09 was featured
in our last letter in current research (p. 3).
Many people traveling out to CICRA’s trail 6,
especially in the crepuscular hours, return to
the comedor with puzzled faces and questions
about the ‘ghost town.’ Trail 6 has become a
phantasmagorical trek through the woods. To
exclude herbivores, Alison and her team have
hung 52 large, white mosquito nets, each
resting with an ethereal stateliness over their
respective Cordia nodosa tree. The exclusions
assess whether the plant invests a significant
amount of resources in its resident ant colony.
Ants defend the tree from the insects that eat
it; but, if they are excluded, are ant colonies
detrimental or beneficial to the tree? In
January, Alison and one field assistant
recently changed the mosquito nets of the
ghost town; sadly, the new nets are a little
more austere than the last ones, lacking the
lovely aesthetic touch of the last bunch: a lacy
fringe. Keep up with Alison and her adventures
at holahormigas@blogspot.com. Sarah Federman.
Photo of Alison at her ghost city by Sarah
Federman.
Mariajose collected over 4,000 individuals which were
distributed across at least 25 genera and totaling 154
species. Sarah Federman. Spider at CICRA by
Katharine Fountain (top) Sarah Federman (bottom).
New taxonomic classification of a frog from
Wayqecha
A small frog from the locality of
Quebrada Toccoruyoc and Esperanza
at Wayqecha Biological Station
previously described and classified as
“Hyla” antoniiochoai was reclassified
into the genus Gastrotheca as a result of new specimen
collections. Aside from general morphology, the
advertisement call, morphological distinctions between
adults and juveniles, and habitat have been described.
Among the six new specimens collected were three
juveniles and three adults. Among the adults was a
brooding female, the first female collected as the authors
believe the female reported in the previous study was
actually a juvenile. Gastrotheca by Alessndro Catenazzi.
Editorial continued below.
To eat or not to eat
Mercury used in gold mining pollutes the
waters of Madre de Dios, and those who
know it, often reject fish in restaurant
menus. But, how much are the fish in
Madre de Dios contaminated by mercury,
really? That question was answered by
Dr. Luis Fernandez, at the Carnegie
Institution for Science. Funded in part by
CICRA’s grant program. Dr. Fernandez
determined the mercury content of dorsal
muscle in eleven fish species and found
that a single meal of the large
carnivorous cat fish zumgaro (Zungaro
zungaro) and mota (Calophysus
macropterus) can overdose you with the
heavy metal, while the smaller plant
eating fish paco (Piaractus
brachypomus) and boquichico
(Prochilodus nigricans) are safe to eat.
Good Friday followers will now know how
to pick their fish. Stay tuned for results on
more fish species soon. Adrian Tejedor.
Photo: Looking for fish at the market. Puma
zungaro (Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum) by Luis
Fernandez.
SPOTLIGHTS
Characteristics which distinguish this frog from other
Gastrotheca species are its comparatively small size and
habitat of bromeliads. Some of the specimens in this
collection were found in bromeliads over 6m high, about
the height of Wayqecha’s
canopy; this is the first report
of a Gastrotheca at such
heights. It is possible that they
inhabit both the bromeliad
habitat and brush. The frogs
have an altitudinal range of
2800-3300 masl, from which they appear to share part of
their habitat with two other species of marsupial frogs in
the region: G. excubitor and G. ochoai. Laura Morales.
Juvenile Gastrotheca by Alessandro Catenazzi.
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