A Major Addition to the Amazonian Library

April 22, 2007

Five extraordinary new books on Amazonia’s sprawling river system were recently published with the support of ACA. Authored by an international team of aquatic conservation ecologists, the books distill research results from across the Amazon basin into volumes packed with photos and written for a broad audience.  To further increase the books’ usefulness, they have been published in English, Spanish and Portuguese versions:

An Unexpected Ecosystem: The Amazon as Revealed by Fisheries
Rolando Barthem & Michael Goulding (English, Spanish and Portuguese)

Palms: Sentinels for Amazon Conservation
Michael Goulding & Nigel Smith (English, Spanish and Portuguese)

Amazon River Fruits: Flavors of Biodiversity
Nigel Smith, Rodolfo Vásquez & Walter Wust (English and Spanish)

Rio Branco: Fishes, Ecology and Conservation in Roraima
Efrem Ferreira, Jansen Zuanon, Bruce Forsberg, Michael Goulding & Sylvio Romerio Briglia-Ferreira (Portuguese)

Larvae of the Large Migratory Catfish
Rosseval Galdino Leite, Carlos Cañas, Bruce Forsberg, Ronaldo Barthem & Michael Goulding (Portuguese and Spanish)

The books were written by the Amazon Rivers Program team, which brings together scientists and students from the University of Florida, Brazil’s Museu Goeldi and National Institute for Amazonian Research, and Peru’s Museo de Historia Natural and Wust Ediciones. The team aims to gather and synthesize ecological data to provide the information needed to promote wetlands conservation in the Amazon Basin. Apart from inspiring a new generation of researchers and conservationists in these little-studied ecosystems, these books will have an important impact on headwaters protection and wetlands management in the world’s largest river system.

The research was funded by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the books will soon be available through the ACA website.