The Program for Biodiversity Research in Brazil: The role of regional networks for biodiversity knowledge, dissemination, and conservation

Abstract

The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research necessary to understand biodiversity and the processes that affect it. There are presently 161 sampling sites (see some of them at Supplementary Appendix), most of which use a standardized methodology that allows comparisons across biomes and through time. To date, there are about 1200 publications associated with PPBio that cover topics ranging from natural history to genetics and species distributions. Most of the field data and metadata are available through PPBio web sites or DataONE. Metadata is available for researchers that intend to explore the different faces of Brazilian biodiversity spatio-temporal variation, as well as for managers intending to improve conservation strategies. The Program also fostered, directly and indirectly, local technical capacity building, and supported the training of hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students. The main challenge is maintaining the long-term funding necessary to understand biodiversity patterns and processes under pressure from global environmental changes.

Species-rich but defaunated: the case of medium and large-bodied mammals in a sustainable use protected area in the Amazon

“…We sampled mammals over 1 kg mean body weight with camera traps in four standardized permanent RAPELD sampling modules (https://ppbio.inpa.gov.br/en/sites/ FLONA_Tapajos) of the PPBio research program (Magnusson et al 2005;Rosa et al 2021). Two modules are located in the northern area of the TNF (km 67 and Acaratinga, distant 5.6 km from each other) and two in the southern area (km 117 and km 134, distant 7.3 km from each other, and 56 km from the northern modules) (Figure 1).…”

12,500+ and counting: biodiversity of the Brazilian Pampa

“…Data from this type of study are highly relevant to improve regional species lists, as presented here. We also need standardized biodiversity inventories that can contribute to a better understanding of biodiversity patterns in space and time (e.g., Ferreira et al 2020, Rosa et al 2021. Collecting and describing organisms and sampling biodiversity are, however, only the first steps toward a better knowledge of biodiversity: information needs to be made available to other researchers and to society as a whole.…”

Big Bird Plots: Benchmarking Neotropical Bird Communities to Address Questions in Ecology and Conservation in an Era of Rapid Change

“…This remains an open question that might be addressed with modeling experiments or considerations of specific scientific goals. If questions comparing broad patterns in community organization require less detailed data from each plot, then larger numbers of smaller plots sampled less intensively may be suitable (Rosa et al, 2021). On the other hand, highly detailed data from fewer big plots might be needed to assess geographic variation in patterns of community structure, species rank-abundance profiles, and beta diversity, and determine if those patterns are parallel in trees and birds, or at least correlated.…”