Researchers at the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) publish an e-book; "Vegetation Complex on White Sand: Campinaranas in the Southwest Amazon"

 

Turma de alunos e professores do curso Ecologia de Campo da UFAC

Figure 1. Instructors, collaborators and participants in Field Ecology at UFAC, in the Santa Bárbara community, Mâncio Lima, Acre.

 

Under the coordination of Professor Marcos Silveira (UFAC), M.Sc. Thaline Brito (MPEG), M.Sc. Richarlly Silva (SOS Amazônia Association) and Dr. Sergio Vidal (UFAC), the work was carried out by Field Ecology students on the UFAC Masters in Ecology and Management of Natural Resources. The course took place in 2012 in the upper Juruá river,  campinaranas region of Acre in the southwest of the Amazon, in the municipalities of Cruzeiro do Sul and Mâncio Lima with the participation of CENBAM / PPBio fellows Fernanda Coelho and Flávia Pezzini (figure 1) . The region contrasts with the rest of the Upper Juruá basin because it is a place where the waters are dark and rich in humic acid; the soils are sandy (Figures 2 and 3), poor in nutrients and harbor a distinctive type of vegetation, the campinaranas (Figure 4).

In addition to stimulating students' interest in learning about ecology of populations and communities, one of the main objectives of the course was to qualify students and professionals working in the field of ecology to become future researchers, human resource trainers and knowledge disseminators.

During the course, 12 manuscripts of various themes were produced, of which 11 were published in the e-book itself and an article entitled "Impact of silting on fish diversity in igarapés of a vegetation complex of campinarana in northwestern Acre, Brazil" by Ramalho and collaborators (2014) published in scientific journal. Also, the article "Three new records of Pristimantis orcus" by López-Rojas et al. (2013), "Three new records of Pristimantis (Amphibia: Anura: Craugastoridae) for Brazil  was published from the work undertaken during the course.

Access to the e-book is free. Just go here, sign up and then download the file.

 

Buritizal

Figure 2. General appearance of a black water lined by buritis.

Alunos e professores durante atividade de campo

Figure 3. Students and teachers during field activity.

vegetação de campinarana

Figure 4. General appearance of a shrubby campina.