Tiputini Video and Research Links

Myrmecologist and filmmaker Amy Mertl has just posted a new video to her webpage on Yasuni National Park and the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador. It is "a short documentary on the incredibly diverse Yasuni National Park in Amazonian Ecuador and the threats it faces from the construction of oil roads. Includes interviews with Kelly Swing and Jaime Guerra." Check it out.

I enjoyed watching this video immensely. It made me really nostalgic for the station. I realized I haven't been back (or anywhere in the field) since 2003. I really miss it! Tiputini Biodiversity Station is such an amazing place. I've been inspired to troll the net for various links to it and I encourage all researchers to consider it as a possible field site. And let me know of other links, too!


Tiputini Links:

Wikipedia entry

Official TBS website

Boston University TBS website

NPR series on Tiputini: The Hidden Language of Insects

• Societies of Sound in the Forest
  
• A Journey to the Edge of the Amazon
  
• Engineer's notebook: the Wilderness Chorus

A new genus of Burmanniacae found at Tiputini

The Tadpole Organization -- conducting amphibian surveys and research at Tiputini. "The alpha diversity of amphibians recorded at the site exceeds all other reported locations and exemplifies the region’s exceptional biodiversity."

Anfibios del Parque Nacional Yasuní -- Fantastic site on the amphibians of Yasuni with photos, movies, sound recordings, lists of species, and other information (in Spanish)

Tiputini Climatological Data -- "climatological information compiled by Dr. Jaime Guerra at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Amazonian Ecuador is available (for Mac and PC equipment) in graphic form. Weather data are presented for all standard parameters (rainfall, wind speed and direction, luminosity, etc.) from 1998 through the present. In the event that raw data are required by any investigator, these can be made available upon request." (scroll to bottom of page)

Video clips from students on the tropical ecology program at Tiputini.

Yasuni Rainforest Campaign -- "The Most Biologically diverse place on earth." Current news stories, information about the indigenous Huaorani, letters of support from organizations and individuals (including EO Wilson and Jane Goodall), and diversity maps.

Diversity and biogeography of vascular epiphytes in Western Amazonia, Yasuní, Ecuador (PDF)-- a paper published in the journal of biogeography. Also includes a Species list of vascular epiphytes from the Tiputini. I think I remember these guys from when I was at the station. One of them had a botfly in his head.

Smithsonian CPD site

John Blake's website on the structure and organization of bird communities at Tiputini. His site includes a map of his plots and a protocol for other researchers who would like to utilize his plots.

Turtles of Tiputini

Beetle Diversity -- canopy fogging paper by Erwin et al.

Ants of Tiputini

Pheidole of Tiputini

Kimberly Holbrook, research on toucans at Tiputini

Understanding biophysical and landscape controls on spatial patterns of tree diversity -- a paper using Tiputini as a field site

A personal essay on the experience of being at Tiputini, with a cameo by Ben Rinehart, bat researcher extraordinaire and fellow BU grad student. A story about Ben: One day I was walking towards the elevator and bumped into Ben, garbed in field gear, net in hand, who grumbled: "I bet you don't have to go out when some lady finds an ant in her garage." Struth.

Article on Cheliomyrmex at Tiputini

Bostonia article on TBS