Ecosystems
Preserved
Our recent research expeditions in the Rio Manduriacu Reserve have rediscovered several species thought to have gone extinct and discovered several others that were entirely new to science. Armed with the knowledge that their reserve was the last home for several unique and charismatic microfauna species, the reserve was able to secure additional funding from The Rainforest Trust and World Land Trust to nearly double the size of the reserve!
Hard data from twelve years of our field work allowed one of our Ecuadorian partners, Reserva Jama Coaque, to purchase 76 hectares of degraded land for reforestation and we are working with them to purchase 200 more. This coastal dry deciduous forest is one of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth and the reserve serves as a biologically rich and critical wildlife corridor between Jama Coaque and our other Manabi Provence partner, Biological Reserva Lalo Loor. In a time of rapid climate change, this is a key conservation purchase in one of the world’s rarest of biodiversity and endemism hotspots. Less than 5% of this original old growth forest remains.