The National Reserve Allpahuayo - Mishana: A Paradise in Peril
By Jose Alvarez Alonso (Researcher at the Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana - IIAP - Institude for Investigation of the Peruvian Amazon)
Allpahuayo – Mishana was created as an officially recognised Reserved Zone on the 4 of March 1999. It is located 23 km south of Iquitos. In 2004 it was classified as a National Reserve (RNAM) with an area of 58,069 ha. The reserve protects, for the first time in Peru, an area of these rare white sand forests and black water flooded forests of the Rio Nanay. The lowland rainforests around Iquitos are famous for the heterogeneity of their habitat. A combination of historical and geological events has created a mosaic of diverse soil types, from nearly pure quartz sands to red clay, in the area. Each of these soil types supports a characteristic and unique flora and fauna, and as a result Allpahuayo-Mishana supports one of the highest biodiversities of the entire Amazon basin. Many of the species are specialists of white sand forests and as such are very rare, due to the scarcity of this forest type in Peru. For example, 21 species of bird in the area are associated with white sand forests, and for several of these species, the forests near Iquitos form the only area of their distribution in Peru. At least five new species have been found and described during the last five years from the white sand forests of Allpahuayo-Mishana. The reserve is also area where two primates, the Lucifer Titi Monkey Callicebus lucifer and Equatorial Saki Monkey Pithecia aequatorialis, are officially protected in Peru.
The forests of RNAM are not only rich in unique species, they are amongst those with the highest species richness per unit area. Here, world records for reptiles (120 species), amphibians (83 species) and tree species per hectare (nearly 300) have been recorded. More than 1,900 plant species have been recorded in this small reserve. In the varillales more than 100 plant species are specialists to white sands. It is also supports incredible numbers of other groups: 145 mammals, 155 fish, 475 birds, including ten restricted to the Napo lowlands EBA, the majority of which are not found in any other protected area in Peru.
The White Sand Forests
White sand forests
Forests on white sand are very scarce in the Peruvian Amazon, and have a fragmented distribution in part of the north-east (reminiscent of a chain of islands in a sea of other forest types). In Peru these white sand forests are locally known as “varillales”. The main concentration of this habitat in Peru is found in the lower Nanay drainage, near the city of Iquitos. The sand is white because it is nearly pure quartz. This type of soil contains very few nutrients, and the vegetation that occurs in these areas is highly adapted to the poor soils. In some areas there exists, below the sand, an impermeable rock layer; this causes the soil to become inundated when it rains. This further exacerbates the differences in vegetation. Several studies have shown that diverse species are restricted to these habitats, especially plants, but also some animals. Such as the 21 species of bird considered to be indicators of white sand forests in the northern Amazon of Peru.
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Although small in extent (1 to 2 km2 on average) these ecosystems are highly unique. They have a very distinct vegetation, characterised by pronounced sclerophyllous (hard impenetrable leaves), and a highly distinctive vegetation structure (the height of the trees may be reduced, though not in all types of varillal), high levels of endemism, high tree densities, scarcity of large emergent trees, large lianas and herbaceous plants, as well as the lack of buttress roots, so commonly found in other Amazonian habitats. Additionally, many of the trees and shrubs have developed defences against herbivores such as hard thick leaves and secondary chemicals, including alkaloids, tannins and terepenes.
Another unusual feature of these forests is that, in contrast to the majority of Amazonian forests (and tropical forests in general), they have a low diversity of species and a pronounced tendency for one or a very few species of trees to dominate.
The circulation (“recycling”) of nutrients is very efficient, and as a result the vegetation can develop a high canopy at times, in spite of the paucity of the soils. More than half the biomass of the forest is in the roots, and the water that drains from white sand forests has fewer nutrients than rainwater.
Despite their limited nature, the botanical inventories undertaken in the varillales reveal the existence of a unique vegetative community, with dozens of endemic plant species with restricted distributions. Actually, nearly 90% of the plant species fond in varillales near Iquitos are specialists of white sands, and many are endemic or only known in this region of Peru. New species for science and for Peru, restricted to these white sand soils, are discovered virtually annually.
Not just one but several types of varillal exist, in the Allpahuayo-Mishana reserve, distinguished easily by the structure of the forest and the species composition. These varying types of forest have been grouped in eight categories, based on the height of the canopy (from 1 to 30 m), the drainage of the soils (from very dry to very wet), and the floristic composition. This classification is important for conservation, given that diverse species of plants and animals appear to be restricted and exclusive to specific types of varillal.
White Sand Forest Bird Specialities by Micro-Habitat Type
Within varillales, the drainage and soil depth affect both the humidity of the forest and the height of the forest and these two factors combine to produce six types of Varillal forest (defined in the list below) with an additional Mixed Forest in marginal areas.
Conservation
Biologists have studied only a small part of the flora and fauna of Allpahuayo-Mishana, and every year new species of plant and animal are discovered. It is probable that many of the endemics of the white sand forests disappear before they are described, as thousands of hectares of this forest have been destroyed, and continue to be destroyed annually. Allpahuayo-Mishana is the only area of white sand forest that benefits from protection in Peru.
Due to its proximity to the city of Iquitos, the conservation of the reserve represents a serious problem, and conversely a great opportunity for environmental education and ecotourism. Despite the fact that the area’s status gives it permanent legal protection, this does not guarantee the actual protection of the area – due to the enormous demographic pressures that exist in the region, combined with the paucity of resources for conservation and management for protected areas in Peru.
The reserve suffers constant illegal invasions to practice unsustainable agriculture or extract timber. The white sand forests are very fragile and are in no way suitable for agriculture. Once the trees are felled the nutrients are rapidly leached from the soil, leaving an eroded and highly degraded landscape that in many cases cannot be restored.
The pressures confronting the RNAM from the neighbouring communities, promoted by high demand for natural resources by the nearby city of Iquitos, represents a latent threat to this new reserve and a challenge for its administration. At the same time the proximity to Iquitos and the easy access via the recently paved Iquitos-Nauta road, also creates a unique opportunity for tourism, recreation, education and research. The participation of the entire population, especially local communities that reside within the reserve, in the development of the RNAM is vital to ensure the long-term conservation of this unique and exceptional example of the biodiversity of Amazonian Peru.
Note: This article is courtesy of the "comision de promocion del Peru" - Prom Peru Click for additional information
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