1. Introduction: Importance and Goals of our Research

UCLA, Geography
Flores, Alberto
Ramos, Rocio

1. Introduction:

   

Long-wattled Umbrellabird

Bilsa Biological Reserve, Ecuador and the surrounding regions are part of an ecosystem that supports high levels of endemism and biodiversity. As one of the wettest areas of the world, Bilsa Biological Reserve and the neighboring rainforest provide niches essential for the growth of unique flora and fauna, many of which still remain to be discovered. The rainforest is especially vital to avian communities, like that of the Long-wattled Umbrellabird (Cephalopterus penduliger), that rely on tree canopies for shelter, protection, and much more. Conservationists have been conducting studies in this region to determine the impact of forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation caused by anthropogenic activity on species richness. They have concluded that these factors indeed affect species composition; species richness was higher in contiguous forest compared to fragmented forest according to a study conducted by capturing bird species around Bilsa Biological Reserve (Durães et al., 2013). Avian populations, as well as other seed dispersing animals, do not only contribute to higher levels of biodiversity, they are also instrumental to the regeneration of the forest itself. Seed dispersal by the movement of animals influence the distribution of genetic diversity of plant communities (Karubian et al.,2012). The protection of all species that contribute to such cycle is essential to the maintenance of this ecological hotspot. Therefore the conservation of the Bilsa Biological Reserve rainforest ecosystems is indispensable and urgent. 

The objective of our study was to provide remote sensing analysis of forest cover essential to the continuous study of forest fragmentation in the territory surrounding BBR. One of our main goals was to find satellite imagery clear of cloud cover. This would be difficult since there is constant precipitation necessary for the growth of tropical rainforest. Then we would conduct analysis of satellite imagery would allow us to calculate size and distance of fragments previously identified. In addition, we wanted to analyze Landsat imagery to determine other fragments with high levels of biodiversity that could be vital to the conservation of the rainforest ecosystem and which could later be compared with in-situ data collection. We hypothesized that areas with higher indices of vegetation would have greater biodiversity and would therefore be the most important for conservationists to protect.

Bilsa Biological Reserve

The gathering of this information would be essential to the development of a sampling design that is efficient and reliable for conservationists. Our long-term objective was to aid the Karubian Lab, a lab which focuses on ecology, behavior, evolution, and conservation, in their efforts to provide baseline estimates of the impacts of forest fragmentation on the conservation of bird species and other taxonomic groups. We hypothesized that areas with higher indices of vegetation would be old growth forest with greater biodiversity and would therefore be the most important for conservationists of the Karubian Lab to protect.