Juma Sustainable Development Reserve: The ... - The REDD Desk

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Amazonas Sustainable Foundation
2.5 Biodiversity
During the studies for the creation of the Juma reserve, rapid inventories and diagnostics
of the biodiversity were undertaken within the Reserve. The PDD provides a
summary of these studies. Logically, with the start of the project, these inventories will
be expanded as part of the planned research program into the diverse ecosystems of
the reserve.
The area where the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve was created has been
identifi ed as an extremely important area for biodiversity, especially for reptiles, amphibians
and mammals. The region is also considered of high biodiversity importance
due to its aquatic fl ora and fauna (ISA et al., 1999; Capobianco et al., 2001).
The Juma Reserve region has been identifi ed as one of the areas of greatest interest
for biodiversity conservation in the Amazon (SDS, 2007), and one of the least
studied areas in the Amazon (Oren & Albuquerque, 1991). One of the most relevant
characteristics of the region of the Reserve is the high degree of species richness due
to the high heterogeneity of habitats, being considered one of the world’s richest regions
in bird species diversity (Cohn-Haft - et al. , 2007). In recent years, numerous new
species have been described scientifi cally, with a high degree of endemism along the
Aripuanã riverbanks and some patches of unique vegetation (SDS, 2007).
Twenty one species of primates have been catalogued in the region, which represents
one of the areas with the highest primate diversity in the world (SDS, 2007). At
least three new species of fi sh and three species of birds have been recently discovered
in the region and more than one third of the bird species (430 birds) found in Brazil
have been reported within the Juma Reserve’s boundaries (Cohn-Haft et al., 2007).
There is also a special part of the Juma Reserve, the riverbank of the Aripuanã river,
which is described as a high value conservation region, where a series of new species
was recently discovered and scientifi c cally catalogued (van Roosmalen et al., 1998;
van Roosmalen et al., 2000; van Roosmalen et al., 2002; Roosmalen & van Roosmalen,
2003; van Roosmalen et al., 2007).