SISBIOTA field trip - rio Negro
The SISBIOTA project has realized the second of six field trips in the months of March and April in the region of upper rio Negro. It was raining quite a bit which was very good for anurofauna, but not necessarily for some of the other groups. But overall, the trip was successful, resulting in the discovery of a number of new species in many of the groups studied. The SISBIOTA project is a biodiversity survey using traditional taxonomy, cytotaxonomy and DNA barcoding in nine vertebrate groups (fishes, birds, bats, rodents, marsupials, primates, amphibians, lizards and snakes). Next trip is planned for the Trombetas or Purus river basins.
FAPEAM/AIRD grant
The lab received funding from FAPEAM and AIRD for a collaborative grant to study rheofilic fishes of the Guyana Shield. This is a joint grant with Michel Jegu of IRD. The official announcement was made in Macapa, the capital city of the state of Amapa which shares a border (rio Oiapoque) with French Guyana.
In the News
The SISBIOTA-BioPHAM network headed by Izeni Farias has been featured by FAPEAM, by UFAM, and an inteview with Izeni Farias and Tomas Hrbek has been aired by TV Cultura. The research network focuses on integrative studies of Amazonian biodiversity, generating molecular, cytogenetic and morphological data, as well as depositing voucher specimens in zoological collections and tissues in tissue collections. Environmental and ecological data are also being collected. Contrary to both the FAPEAM and the UFAM report, it does not focus on the discovery of cryptic species living in caves.
New Students
The academic year begins in February/March, usually after Carnaval. With the beginning of the new academic year we are welcoming four new Masters students from the GCBEv graduate program, and four new Ph.D. students from the BioNorte graduate program to the lab. Looks like the lab will be a bit full for the next couple of years.