Stroud Center Project in Madre de Dios, Peru
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Río
Madre de Dios and two tributaries |
The Stroud Water Research Center is applying its 40 years of experience
studying stream and river ecosystems to the development of an integrated
scientific research/environmental education project in headwaters of the Amazon
in southeastern Peru.
In August 2006, funded by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation,
a team of 12 scientists and educators from the Stroud Center, along with
collaborators from Florida A&M University and from Peru, traveled to Madre de
Dios, Peru, for an 18-day expedition to sample 33 sites, which ranged from small
streams to the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers. Our research and
education staffs worked out of the following five stations: Puerto Maldonado; ACEER Tambopata at Inkaterra (ATI); Los Amigos Research Center and Conservation Area (CICRA); Rainforest Expeditions at Refugio (ARA); and Rainforest Expeditions at Tambopata Research Center (TRC).
The team had two main goals: (1) establish a baseline of
scientific data on
water quality, stream biodiversity, and stream health that would serve as the
foundation for understanding and sustaining on-going
conservation efforts in the
region; and (2) create, test, and implement accessible, easy-to-use, and
inexpensive education programs for the people of the region.
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Macroinvertebrate identification workshop |
In October 2006, scientific and education staff members returned to Madre de
Dios to offer a series of free, full-day workshops on water-quality monitoring
and the ecology of streams and rivers to: (1) local public- and private-sector
decision makers; (2) teachers; (3) conservation planners, non-governmental
organization staff members, and university faculty; and (4) eco-tourism guides.
The team gave a similar series of workshops at the Fundación Neotrópica on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica in December.
The project promised three major outputs: (1) the field and laboratory effort
sought to "test and deploy protocols for measuring and monitoring health in
neo-tropical streams"; (2) the scientific findings would provide the basis for
"creating and offering training workshops for monitoring biophysical properties
of streams and rivers in neotropical regions"; and (3) the Stroud Center would
"disseminate training workshop and monitoring research information" as broadly
as possible.
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SWRC staff taking water chemistry samples |
Specifically, we sought to:
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assess the current level of water and ecosystem quality across a range of land uses and stream conditions in Madre de Dios watershed.
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serve as a reference point for measuring the effects of future changes in
land use on water quality.
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develop a standard water-quality monitoring protocol/index that is
easy to use, inexpensive, and effective across the region.
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serve as a baseline for measuring regional effects of broad scale
perturbations such as global climate change, aerial transport of environmental
contaminants and others.
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provide a series of environmental education workshops aimed at increasing
public understanding of the issues affecting fresh water and giving people the
tools to monitor, protect and restore their stream and river ecosystems.
