written in 1984 by Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade
illustrates the process by which the wildlife in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest have lost their habitat and disappeared from the ecosystem over the years
The bird cited by Drummond is a good example
or black-fronted piping guan (Aburria jacutinga)
is a turkey-size bird that occurs only in the Atlantic Forest
It once abounded throughout the sweep of the forest that hugs Brazil’s coast
from the state of Bahia in the east to Rio Grande do Sul in the south
But now it’s considered globally endangered
the jacutinga’s conservation status is listed as endangered on the red list maintained by ICMBio
the environment ministry’s administrative arm
The victim of habitat destruction and degradation as well as uncontrolled hunting, the jacutinga presents a textbook example of how the Atlantic Forest’s loss of fauna, or defaunation
Local extinctions don’t just occur where the forest has disappeared; they also sometimes occur where the forest is still standing
the presence of trees masking the silence of an ecosystem in decline
According to a survey conducted by the Fiquem Sabendo initiative
48% of the threatened species in the Atlantic Forest are found nowhere else on Earth
the biome hosts 1,160 plant species and 425 animal species categorized as threatened on the ICMBIO Red List
including birds such as the kinglet calyptura (Calyptura cristata)
last sighted in 1996; the Doxocopa zalmunna emperor butterfly
not seen in more than 60 years; the Campo Grande tree frog (Hypsiboas cymbalum)
which disappeared more than 50 years ago; and the ituí-maraúna
which disappeared after the construction of a hydropower dam in its native river system
all of them endemic species that evolved with the biome
There are also cases of species widely distributed throughout Brazil that have become rare in the Atlantic Forest or simply disappeared from some places
And while these may represent local extinctions
the result is the same: the actors disappear
a professor of ecology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
defaunation can’t be seen or measured by satellite images
“These are forests that no longer have large animals because they have been exterminated locally
“A large part of the tropical forest is empty
and the overwhelming majority of Atlantic Forest areas are just like that; they are forests with no animals in them.”
This is the case in Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro
At nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) and hemmed in by the urban sprawl of the metropolis
the park protects a forest massif that was largely replanted throughout the 19th century at the behest of Emperor Pedro II
The pioneering reforestation work was motivated by the lack of water in what used to be of the Brazilian Empire and also by the elite’s demand for wooded spaces
according to the historian Warren Dean in his 1995 book With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Forest
With more than a century to grow and reestablish itself
the forest has returned to the Tijuca massif
which has been legally protected as a national park since 1961
With shady trees and a predominance of green
it presents a dazzling image of a healthy forest that has miraculously remained intact over time
The cycles of deforestation for logging and coffee farming
have left scars that remain under the replanted canopy
precisely because they’re marked by absence: the original wildlife of the forest is no longer there
“This is a conservation problem that tends to be underestimated
humans are intervening in the forest again
they’re trying to bring it back through Project Refauna — an initiative to reintroduce native species such as agouti rodents
tortoises and howler monkeys into Tijuca National Park
The disappearance of wildlife compromises the health of the entire forest
as the animals play a crucial role in maintaining an ecological balance
And it was precisely through a very unique rupture in the interaction that occurs in the Atlantic Forest
between the so-called agouti tree and agoutis themselves
that the empty forest issue emerged in Tijuca National Park
The agouti tree (Joannesia princeps) is a large tree
Its nuts measure up to 20 centimeters (8 inches)
ICMBio environmental analyst Ivandy Nascimento de Castro-Astor passed a row of agouti trees on her way to work
and she always saw the fruits on the ground,” says Alexandra Pires
“She began to wonder why she never saw an agouti
who is also a professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFFRJ)
where she specializes in interactions between animals and plants
began looking into the mystery of the missing agoutis in 2006
she was researching the impact of forest fragmentation on palm trees
and realized that some species of palm trees stopped reproducing when agoutis weren’t around
“Because agoutis are major seed dispersers,” Pires says
“That is the signature of empty forest: big fruit rotting on the ground,” Fernandez says
is how plants reward animals for dispersing their seeds
and big trees need to have big fruits in order to have big seeds
“If you have a bunch of fruit rotting on the ground
it’s because there’s something deeply wrong with that forest
It’s because all the big animals that should have been scattering those fruits are no longer there.”
This is particularly fatal in tropical forests
where studies estimate that between 70% and 90% of a region’s plant life may depend on its animal life at some point in the life cycle
A study by researchers from Project Refauna shows that Tijuca National Park has already lost two-thirds of its large and medium-sized vertebrates
only 11 really do occur,” says study co-author Marcelo Rheingantz
otters — they can no longer be found there
there are no new trees to replace the large old ones
A large tree usually lives for more than 100 years
which makes the consequences of an empty forest even more difficult to see
as they will likely be felt only after a few generations
“The big trees turn into what we call a forest of zombies,” Fernandez says
to empty itself of its large trees as well and become a less dense forest dominated by plant species with small seeds
which are dispersed by the wind or by small animals
“But the forest will also be doomed,” Fernandez says
It was in light of this threat that Fernandez and Pires, together with Tijuca National Park biologist Castro-Astor, came up with the idea that culminated in Project Refauna in 2011
which was established as an NGO in October 2021
Agoutis (Dasyprocta spp.) are relatively common throughout Brazil
it’s the red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina)
Possible factors for their local extinction included pressure from hunting both by humans and dogs
The fact that agoutis are active in the daytime may also have exacerbated the problem
making them easier prey for hunters and even a more likely to be roadkill
due to the heavy traffic on nearby roads during work hours
Yet despite having disappeared from Tijuca National Park
agoutis can still be easily found elsewhere in Rio de Janeiro
In a part of the city known as Campo de Santana
a small urban park without major environmental attractions
agoutis are so abundant that they’re considered a pest
The agouti population of Campo de Santana is virtually all urban
which makes it the perfect source of animals for an ambitious project: reintroducing agoutis into the Tijuca forest
Biologist Bruno Cid came up with the plan to reintroduce the agoutis in 2009
turning the mission into his master’s subject
he needed authorization from the Parks and Gardens Foundation
he took the agoutis to Rio Zoo (now known as BioParque Rio)
so that veterinarians there could examine the animals and give medical and sanitary approval for their reintroduction into Tijuca
an enclosure was built that would allow them to begin adapting to their new environment in the park
Agoutis tend to eat seeds up to 1.5 cm (6 in) in diameter; anything larger gets buried
consuming their fruit and dispersing their seeds.”
one of the pieces of the puzzle was back in place
and the forest got one of its main seed dispersers back
The agouti experiment occurred around the same time that researchers led by U.S. biologist Josh Donlan published a paper proposing the return of the modern-day descendants of Pleistocene-era megafauna to the Americas
the paper called for rewilding with elephants
In response to the that 2006 paper, Fernandez and Luiz Gustavo Oliveira-Santos, at the time a colleague from UFRJ, wrote their own proposal. The Brazilian researchers’ article, published in 2010 in Conservation Biology
proposed an alternative conservation agenda to rewilding: refaunation
Rather than repopulate landscapes in the Americas with wildlife from Africa and Asia
why not bring back the native wildlife that had disappeared
“We propose an alternative major conservation goal for the 21st century: refaunation through restoration of extant species to their original geographical distributions,” they wrote
“The world has plenty of empty forests in biodiversity-rich places where ecological interactions are waiting to be restored by the same species for which these interactions once evolved.”
“We are going to take these species that disappeared 50
they co-evolved with these forests,” Fernandez says
“So they wouldn’t be an evolutionary Frankenstein; they interact with a bunch of tree species that live longer than these animals
and those are the trees that are still there
waiting for someone to disperse their seeds and missing out someone that disperses their seeds.”
Thus was launched the concept of refaunation
the list of large animals includes jaguars
primates such as howler monkeys and woolly spider monkeys
and large ground birds such as the red-knobbed curassow
Reintroducing even a single species isn’t a simple process
and a number of criteria must be met to decide on the feasibility of bringing a long-lost animal back into its habitat
“You need to think first about reintroducing the animals of low trophic levels,” Fernando Fernandez says
the animals lower down the food chain: “If almost everyone is missing
as is the case of the Tijuca forest and many other places
it’s also important to bring back species that are generalists
These are animals with a varied diet that adapt well to environments
After this come the animals that are strategically important to restore ecological processes that are essential for nature
Another important criterion is to select species that have large populations in captivity that are available for reintroduction
Taking individuals from a population that’s well-established in the wild to reintroduce them elsewhere may also be possible
but this option requires even more care and study
so as not to cause imbalances in the source population
animals that don’t cause too much conflict must be selected
“We are not going to put peccaries [Tayassu pecari] in the Tijuca forest
which won’t work out so close to a city and with so many people around,” Fernandez says
in addition to creating potential conflicts with the surrounding human population
have a typical range of 5,000 hectares (nearly 12,400 acres) — 25% larger than the total area of Tijuca National Park
the Project Refauna team made a list of suggestions for species reintroduction in the Atlantic Forest in general
and a more specific one for Tijuca National Park
park and ICMBio officials and representatives of environmental agencies at a workshop to discuss and plan the priorities for the reintroduction in Tijuca
taking into account the reality of the protected area
surrounded by a heaving metropolis of 6.7 million people
“There are many species that will not be able to return because the size of the forest will not support viable populations or because it could cause some kind of problem for local human communities,” Alexandra Pires says
so that the forest really works like a forest
And what we always say is that Refauna’s point of view is to restore ecological processes
Because several of these species that we reintroduce are not threatened fauna
but they need to be there for some processes to take place.”
The species reintroductions planned for Tijuca National Park started with the agouti
a relatively resistant prey and an excellent seed disperser
which means there’s abundant and easy food for it in Tijuca
which helps draw attention and raise people’s awareness about the project
The reintroduction of howler monkeys began in 2015
when six individuals from the Rio de Janeiro Primatology Center (CPRJ) were released in the park
Two of them had to be removed later because they were interacting with visitors — a behavior considered problematic to preserve the animals’ wild nature — while one female died
and one male left the group and escaped the researchers’ monitoring
the park’s primates were threatened by an outbreak of yellow fever
a virtually fatal disease for howler monkeys
which have about a 90% chance of dying if infected
While the disease didn’t kill any of the howler monkeys in the project
it served as an important warning to the researchers
With the development of a vaccine for primates against yellow fever in 2020
the procedure for reintroduction of howler monkeys started to include a vaccination step
A new group of howler monkeys is now awaiting immunization before it can be taken to the forest
The next new release is are expected in the first half of 2022
The last species on Project Refauna’s reintroduction list for the Tijuca forest is the yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulata)
which is a resistant animal and an excellent seed disperser
The species is thought to have gone locally extinct 200 to 300 years ago. Releases began in 2020, with 50 individuals reintroduced so far. The group has already suffered some losses, including encounters with dogs
and today the park’s tortoise population is 41
A great disperser of seeds that require the process of chemical reaction that comes with passing through the digestive tract
yellow-footed tortoises can disperse large seeds over a wider area than agoutis
which takes four or five days to digest what it eats
“We are trying to build it from the bottom up,” Fernandez adds
we can try to place medium-size predators.” Among the species most conspicuous by their absence from the Tijuca massif are the carnivores
only three carnivore species still occur in the park: the ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua)
the crab-eating racoon (Procyon cancrivorus)
is the ocelot [Leopardus pardalis],” Fernandez says
And it has the smallest home range of all the Neotropical felids
So it would be possible to consider placing a population of ocelots in the Tijuca forest.”
The possible return of the ocelot or other predators depends
on the establishment of a rich variety of available prey
The road to filling an empty forest with life is a long one
and each step requires robust planning and lots of monitoring
Reintroducing a species takes several steps
such as defining where the animals will come from
down to the more mundane process of obtaining licenses
Tijuca National Park works as a perfect laboratory
any possible imbalance can be quickly identified and addressed
but rather a necessary path for ecological restoration of historically degraded environments
“Monitoring helps us because we can still take action
we can always reassess and carry out adequate management; it’s adaptive management
“We reanalyze and see what kind of management we have to do for that population.”
Ongoing research also helps to measure the impact of reintroductions on the plant life
including the effect of the return of seed dispersers on forest dynamics
While forest dynamics play out in slow motion
the Project Refauna team has already managed to document interactions
“For Astrocaryum aculeatissimum [the brejaúva palm] and for the agouti tree
germination where these animals [agoutis and tortoises] are present,” Pires says
The impacts of howler monkeys are also being measured
The species has already been observed interacting with more than 60 plant species
interaction with more than 20 species of dung beetles — an essential insect for ecological dynamics
including seed dispersal and soil fertilization and aeration
Discussions about the reintroduction puzzle aren’t simple and depend on a number of factors
The Project Refauna team is already working with the real perspective of reintroducing blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) in the park
These large birds with powerful beaks are great dispersers that can travel long distances with the seeds
a feature that distinguishes them from other dispersers
their beauty and charismatic aspect can help change the way park visitors relate to them and make people aware of the importance of native fauna and nature conservation
before the macaws return to add some color to Rio de Janeiro’s skies
the Project Refauna team underscores the need for awareness-raising work with the surrounding communities
due to the risk of the macaws being captured for the pet trade or interacting — unhealthily — with humans
Also a hypothetical candidate for reintroduction is the green iguana (Iguana iguana)
The feasibility of this is being studied by a professor from Rio’s West Zone State University (UEZO) who works with Project Refauna
“We are also thinking about maybe reintroducing hawks and snakes
because these species could play the role of predators
so that the community can achieve greater stability,” says Marcelo Rheingantz
“Because today we have that apparent forest
Reintroducing native animals is a major management intervention
There are other strategies for bringing fauna back to an empty forest
One of them is to establish ecological corridors between natural areas that allow animals to reoccupy those places naturally
The park’s forest sector is nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Pedra Branca State Park
which is considerably bigger and has a larger wildlife population
lie insurmountable barriers such as four urban neighborhoods and two express bus routes
in addition to the busy Grajaú-Jacarepaguá road
“The Tijuca forest is perhaps the extreme example of defaunation
“And the species will not come back because there is an urban area in the middle of the road
climb the mountains in Alto da Boa Vista and arrive at the forest
because reintroduction is a management tool.”
the forest restoration strategy and the creation of corridors can help reduce the problem of empty forests
“Between 15 and 28% of what used to be the Atlantic Forest remains
And 80% of those remaining areas are fragments under 50 hectares [124 acres],” Rheingantz says
we cannot think of placing many species in these very small fragments
And the few large areas that remain generally have much more diverse communities but still lack some important elements
then we expanded to the Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve
and then we realized that we needed to do broader work
in the sense of thinking of the Atlantic Forest as a landscape unit
and thinking about using these larger fragments
the jaguar has become the reference in terms of refaunation
as the largest predator in the Atlantic Forest and the one that needs the largest area to survive
we have to think about these large areas that still remain and how jaguars will naturally return to the areas where they can still live,” Rheingantz says
According to a study being carried out by the researchers
there are 15 to 25 areas in the Atlantic Forest where jaguars could live
that aren’t present in many of these areas and that constitute the jaguar’s main prey
where about three-quarters of the biome has been destroyed
it’s essential to reconnect forest fragments to ensure that the actors of the show get their stage back
There is no refaunation without restoration
Jansen, P. A., Hirsch, B. T., Emsens, W., Zamora-Gutierrez, V., Wikelski, M., & Kays, R. (2012). Thieving rodents as substitute dispersers of megafaunal seeds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(31), 12610-12615. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205184109
Genes, L., Cid, B., Fernandez, F. A., & Pires, A. S. (2017). Credit of ecological interactions: A new conceptual framework to support conservation in a defaunated world. Ecology and Evolution, 7(6), 1892-1897. doi:10.1002/ece3.2746
Josh Donlan, C., Berger, J., Bock, C., Bock, J., Burney, D., Estes, J., … Greene, H. (2006). Pleistocene Rewilding: An optimistic agenda for twenty‐first century conservation. The American Naturalist, 168(5), 660-681. doi:10.1086/508027
Oliveira-Santos, L. G., & Fernandez, F. A. (2010). Pleistocene rewilding, Frankenstein ecosystems, and an alternative conservation agenda. Conservation Biology, 24(1), 4-5. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01379.x
This story was originally published in Portuguese in ((o))eco
The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa
as protected areas become battlegrounds over history
and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss
Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins
and trying to forge a path forward […]
A routine check-up in 2010 revealed that only one Black-fronted Piping-guan was left in the mountain range of Sierra do Mar
the team of SAVE Brasil built a huge enclosure camouflaged in the Atlantic Forest to start a reintroduction programme
the situation is being reverted: the birds are adapting and the locals are making sure their homes stay intact
The Black-fronted Piping-guan Pipile jacutinga is a globally threatened species endemic to the Atlantic Forest of South America
As a consequence of poaching and habitat loss
this species is now locally extinct in big part of its original distribution
such as the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro
it was found from South Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul
The project aims to implement a reintroduction and monitoring programme for Black-fronted Piping-guans
increasing the species’ population through captive management and release of individuals
thus raising the species conservation status
Projeto Jacutinga began in 2010 when a census was conducted in Serra do Mar
focusing on two bird families: Cracidae (chachalacas
guans and curassows) and Tinamidae (tinamous and nothuras)
Along 160 km of transects covered during 1 year
only one single Black-fronted Piping-guan individual was recorded
as this bird has an important ecological role
since it swallows whole fruits and disperses seeds that can help the re-growth of forests
the need for a population reinforcement programme for the species became apparent
Adaptation and rehabilitation enclosures for Black-fronted Piping-guan were built in two areas – Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu
8 m wide and 8 m tall and are placed inside the Atlantic Forest to allow the birds to practice flight and enable them to acclimatize to the release area
a group of Black-fronted Piping-guans from a private breeder (CESP-Companhia Energética de São Paulo) was transferred to the rehabilitation enclosure in Serra da Mantiqueira where pre-release preparations were held
During 3 months the birds went through flight
feeding and predator recognition trainings
along with assessments of the social interaction between individuals and tracing of their behavior profiles
the first 9 Black-fronted Piping-guans were released in Serra da Mantiqueira
Today these birds are being monitored by satellite transmitters
field visits and through the participation of the local community
the project team received the news of a Black-fronted Piping-guan sighting by a local resident in a property located 1 km from the enclosure
This individual was only sighted again near the enclosure 6 days after the release and he was accompanied by one of the released females
The project team is very excited with release results so far
as the guans seem to be adapting and interacting well with the natural environment
Besides the individual who was sighted far from the enclosure
the others are also being seen in the forest feeding on fruits
more than 40 educational activities have already been held involving almost 1,200 people
nine capacity building workshops have been conducted for over 100 teachers of public schools in the region
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