There are areas that are little scientifically investigated in the Brazilian Amazon, for several reasons. An article published in the magazine Current Biology by scientists from all over the world gathered in the Synergize Consortium reveals not only the areas, but also the factors that determine these gaps in ecological research, opening up possibilities to specifically guide the planning of new investments in research in the region.
The work used information from 7.694 locations where ecological investigations took place to evaluate how logistics and human influence on forests explained the chances of different regions of the Amazon receiving research. The period analyzed was from 2010 to 2020, covering studies of nine groups of organisms: benthic invertebrates (which inhabit the bottom of oceans, estuaries, rivers and lakes or live associated with substrates such as sediments, rocks, logs and aquatic plants), heteropterans, odonatas (a group popularly known as “zigzag” or “lavadeira” and which also includes dragonflies), fish, macrophytes, birds, woody vegetation, ants and dung beetles.
“The consortium brought together people who contributed to databases on standardized inventories and studies that presented similar sampling efforts. We captured information on three large groups representing Amazonian biodiversity: vertebrate animals, invertebrates and the flora of dryland forests, floodable forests and aquatic environments (igarapés, rivers and lakes). This is the first work that the group has published”, explains biologist Mario Ribeiro de Moura, from the Institute of Biology at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), one of the authors of the article and member of the consortium.
Access the full article published on the Agência Fapesp website.
