Sponsored in cooperation with the Earthwatch Institute

Bees and Orchids of Brazil

Desengano State Park, Brazil's Atlantic forest

As the planet's tropical forests are degraded or chopped into fragments at an increasing rate, one of the greatest challenges facing reserve managers is calculating whether a given fragment is viable. Nowhere is this truer than in Brazil's unique coastal rainforest-Mata Atlântica-which once extended for more than 2,000 kilometers along the shore. Today this forest has been reduced to less than 10 percent of its original 35 million hectares. Though the majority of Mata Atlântica exists only as scattered fragments, it still supports roughly 7 percent of the world's plant and animal species, making it one of both the richest and the most threatened regions in the world and an area in desperate need of sound conservation.

One measure of the health of rainforest fragments is diversity. Counting the numbers and species of any group of organisms might indicate the viability of a given forest fragment. Entomologists Drs. Athayde Tonhasca and Gilberto Albuquerque (both of the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense) are testing whether the stingless male euglossine bees that pollinate the roughly 650 orchid species and other plants that live here provide a reliable measure of forest fragment health. Their target: three primeval sites and three fragments of Mata Atlântica. If the number of bee species in a given tract is high, then, they reason, so is the number of plant species they pollinate, and hence that fragment is healthy. Because of the bees' longevity, flight capacities, and ability to locate specific plants, these bees, and consequently the orchids and plants they pollinate, may not suffer as much from deforestation as one might imagine. If true, then these forest fragments may still function as an extension of the original forest, a result that would not only have implications in preserving the Mata Atlântica, but for fragmented forests around the world.

2000 TEAMS
Max team size: 6

• III: Jan 16-25

• IV: Mar 5-14

• V: May 7-16

• VI: Jul 2-11

MEMBERS SHARE OF COSTS

from $1,595 • £950 • A$2,450 • ¥187,200

Special rates apply only to U.S. Members and only on specific teams

RENDEZVOUS SITE
Rio de Janeiro Airport, Brazil

VOLUNTEER TASKS

In the project's second season, you'll search for, photograph, and collect samples of orchid flowers; set up blotter bee baits saturated with various orchid fragrances; catch bees that visit the baits in nets for later labeling, pinning, and identification; and note temperature and humidity at each site. The bees are stunning, iridescent colors, and the primary forest is as primordially rich as it is rare.

FIELD CONDITIONS

The first two days, you'll visit with orchid specialists David and Bel Miller outside Rio for a crash course in orchids, then move on to the rustic but comfortable Pro-Natura field station outside of Conceicao de Macabu and at the edge of Desengano State Park. You'll bunk in one of two bedrooms with two bathrooms, electricity, and hot showers, and enjoy the cook's meals of rice, beans, meat, cassava, baked plantains, custard apples, and abundant other fruits.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

With doctorate degrees from Ohio State University (Tonhasca) and Cornell University (Albuquerque), your leaders are both experienced entomologists and committed conservationists. Tonhasca has been active in raising support to protect Desengano State Park, the most important remnant of Atlantic forest in the region. Besides teaching courses on biological control, Albuquerque is an expert ornithologist.