Conservation 1

The plight of the Atlantic rainforest.

Most of the area covered by this CD was once covered by tropical forests of one form or another. Obviously, the efforts of local and international groups directed towards conservation of natural tropical forest ecosystems frequently fail in light of the pressures of over-population and inequities of wealth and education. Most of the grim pictures forecast in a recent book ¹⁸ had already befallen the Atlantic Rainforest long before the dawn of increasing awareness of the progress of destruction of the Earth's rainforests ¹⁹. While efforts are launched now to save the remaining Amazonian rainforest, the destruction of the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil is frequently only briefly mentioned (see e.g. ²⁰).

Maps of São Paulo State show 90-95 % destruction of the forest in this state alone ²¹ and the destruction still continues. Although in some areas old territory is claimed back by secondary forests, clearing by squatters and poaching are still ongoing and threats by mining companies (such as at Fazenda Intervales) continue unabated. Most of Brazil's protected areas exist only on paper and lack the full protection established by law ²³. Some of these current problems might be blamed on the fact that, despite its original longitudinal extension of over 1350 miles this forest is located almost entirely within Brazil and its investigation, management and economical exploitation has always been considered an internal Brazilian affair.

The plight of bamboo specialists.

In the last 50 years such obligatory bamboo seed feeders as Claravis godefrida, Sporophila frontalis and Sporophila falcirostris have become increasingly rare ²⁸. Claravis godefrida was apparently quite common in Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the last century ²⁹, but the last record from the Serra Mantiqueira is from 1989. The distribution of bamboo must have suffered a similar fate as the forest. Edwin Willis thinks that such specialized feeders must have had already difficulties in seeking out new bamboo crops in moderately deforested areas, because of the increased intervals between the bamboo crops. This would make the remaining forested areas too fragmented for these wide ranging food specialists and might also explain why Sporophila frontalis and Sporophila falcirostris were repeatedly found in agricultural areas, such as rice fields ³⁰ which is hopefully an indication that these species can adapt to other food sources.

Conservation efforts.

Most older conservation efforts were directed toward conservation of small forest remnants that were dispersed as small patches surrounded by open country ²². Such small parcels tend to loose a number of tree species because pollination or fruit dispersal of these plants is dependent on vertebrates which are either extinct or for which the large distances between the forest fragments are insurmountable obstacles ²⁴. The consequence is a loss of key vertebrate populations necessary for fruit dispersal and subsequently an irreversible loss of biodiversity of rainforest flora.