Woods Hole Research Center

November 2012: Training indigenous communities to map the Amazon in Ecuador

Deep in the heart of the Amazon, a compelling concept is taking root alongside towering ancient trees: that indigenous peoples — given the training and technology — can play a central role in mapping and preserving the rainforest. A five-day conference in Puyo, Ecuador in November, “Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin”, brings together eight indigenous leaders from four Amazonian countries, representatives from the government of Ecuador, educators and scientific experts to increase indigenous participation in forest governance, particularly policies like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

November 2012: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A small group from WHRC attended meetings and made field site visits in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of a project called the Landscape Climate Change Vulnerability Project (LCC-VP). In addition to WHRC, the LCC-VP team is composed of collaborators from universities, government agencies, and other non-profit organizations. At WHRC, our piece of the project involves modeling habitat suitability for a number of key tree species and forecasting suitable habitat space for those species into the future under different scenarios.

February 2012: Fazenda Tanguro, Brazil

Research Associate Paul A. Lefebvre recently visited Fazenda Tanguro in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil and the Amazon to continue work started over a year ago. 'Tanguro Ranch', as it’s known, is the site of a tropical ecological research station run by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), at which WHRC and other institutions conduct ongoing experiments.

January/February 2012: Orinoco River, Venezuela and Amazon River, Brazil

Scientists Mike Coe, Max Holmes, Rob Spencer are on a 12-day trip to the world’s 1st and 3rd largest rivers (the Amazon River in Brazil and Orinoco River in Venezuela). The goal for the Orinoco leg of the trip is to get a feel for this remarkable river, meet with local scientists, and explore possibilities for collaborative research. An overarching element of the trip is the linking of WHRC scientists focusing on river water chemistry (Holmes and Spencer) with those focusing on hydrologic modeling (led by Mike Coe).