Further elaboration on my BioArea! by Stefanía Karlsdóttir https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf All about Bolivia en-us 2019-02-09 15:11:59 UTC 2025-12-31 21:16:36 UTC hello@padlet.com Habitat loss s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329495125 Just like in the rest of the Amazon, and most rainforests around the world unfortunately, a lot of the forest has been cleared. This sadly results in habitat loss for millions of species.

Change in Forest Cover: Between 1990 and 2000, Bolivia lost an average of 270,400 hectares of forest per year. The amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 0.43%. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased by 4.4% to 0.45% per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Bolivia lost 6.5% of its forest cover, or around 4,055,000 hectares. Bolivia lost -2,028,000 hectares—0—of its primary forest cover during that time. Deforestation rates of primary cover have decreased 6.5% since the close of the 1990s. Measuring the total rate of habitat conversion (defined as change in forest area plus change in woodland area minus net plantation expansion) for the 1990-2005 interval, Bolivia lost 6.2% of its forest and woodland habitat.]]> 2019-02-09 15:14:57 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329495125 Habitat fragmentation s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329495656 Since humans have cleared a lot of native plants (rainforest areas) in Bolivia for e.g. agriculture and rural development.
After intensive clearing, the separate fragments tend to be very small islands isolated from each other by cropland, pasture, pavement, or even barren land. This usually leads to a decrease in bio diversity.]]> 2019-02-09 15:19:52 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329495656 Habitat degradation s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496252 Although Bolivia has a decent and growing National Parks (NP) system, threats in the form of habitat loss and general degradation due to human activities persist outside protected regions (Mee 1999). This ecoregion is threatened because it is easier for local agrarianists to burn this habitat than true montane forest for growing cash crops (Collar et al. 1992). In some cases crops and logging have increased due to more intensified road-building efforts (Dinerstein et al. 1995). Extensive forest clearance in the Bolivian Andean foothills to cultivate crops has endangered over 70 species of birds, especially in the Departments of La Paz and Cochabamba (Collar et al. 1992). Additionally, certain game species from this ecoregion are threatened by over-harvest for protein and/or the wild bird trade (Mee 1999).]]> 2019-02-09 15:26:23 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496252 Amazon Basin Ecoregion s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496349 2019-02-09 15:27:13 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496349 The red-faced Uakari - endangered monkey s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496535 2019-02-09 15:29:21 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496535 The Amazon s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496709 2019-02-09 15:31:13 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329496709 Overexploitation of Amazonian animals s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497073 Wildlife trade can take many forms and involves a range of players. Major traffickers (usually European, North-American and Asian) collaborate with a network of dealers and suppliers in the countries where animals are sold, and in the countries where the animals are found in the wild.

In the Brazilian Amazon, wild species are trapped in the forest by indigenous people – often encouraged by traffickers to hunt endangered species and to sell them their skins and other products3 - gold prospectors, peasants, farmers and cowboys, who complement their income through this illegal activity.

Dead or alive, the wildlife passes into the hands of middlemen, including boatmen, farmers and truck and bus drivers. Higher up the trade chain are small and medium traffickers, with connections to major traffickers operating within the country and abroad. Some wildlife is then exported to Europe, Asia, and North America through major harbours and airports, while the rest is used locally.

The remote borders between Amazon countries are ideal places for traffickers to export wild animals.Research has shown that sometimes, traffickers will 'launder' wildlife through zoos or so called “scientific/conservation” or commercial breeding institutions - legal or not - which provide false certificates attesting the animals were born in captivity which enables them to be imported or exported.

As traffickers are trying to conceal or hide the animals it often means they are transported in ways that are detrimental to their welfare, packed in very small areas resulting in injury or suffocation.

Perhaps the most obvious problem associated with wildlife trade is that it can cause overexploitation to the point where the survival of a species hangs in the balance. 

Historically, such overexploitation has caused extinctions or severely threatened species and, as human populations have expanded, demand for wildlife has only increased. ]]> 2019-02-09 15:34:57 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497073 Illegal wildlife trade in the Amazon s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497554 2019-02-09 15:39:33 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497554 Queen of the Andes (Puya raimondii) – on the IUCN red list s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497987 This spectacular plant occurs in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Its populations are often very isolated from each other. Thanks to a single enormous subpopulation, which could represent most of the world’s population of this plant, the population size may number 800,000 individuals. Bolivia is estimated to have 30,000-35,000 plants. This
speices produces seeds only once in about 80 years or more before dying, and although a mature plant will produce 8–12 million seeds, inclement montane conditions at the time of dispersal, which may also affect pollinating insects, can result in few if any germinations. Moreover, seeds in less than ideal conditions can begin to lose germinating ability after a few months and are also susceptible to damping-off. Because of these factors, a century-old plant may not reproduce at all and will, botanically, have lived in vain. This risk is exacerbated by global warming whose effects on Peru’s glaciers are well established. Climate change may already be impairing Puya raimondii’s ability to flower.
]]> 2019-02-09 15:43:45 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329497987 Bolivian Chinchilla Rat s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329498604 This species is critically endangered according to the IUCN red list. 
HABITAT AND ECOLOGY

Forest, Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)
]]> 2019-02-09 15:49:29 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329498604 Alien Species s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499140
While no alien species in Bolivia appear on the 100 World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species there are still quite a few alien species there.
One example is the River Giant Invading the Bolivian Amazon.
Today, the paiche represents as much as 85 percent of all fish extracted in the river port of Riberalta, the most important fishery in this poor, landlocked nation. As the paiche expands its range into new communities and protected areas at a rate of 30km per year, it colonizes the breeding grounds of native species and consumes their young. Growing demand for fish has meant more families turning to the rivers for a new source of income, but also increasing pressure on the same native species that the paiche may be driving toward extinction. Because paiche officially remains a threatened species, Bolivia's wild-caught specimens can't be exported, yet neither local infrastructure nor markets can support the amount of paiche coming out of Bolivia's rivers.

]]> 2019-02-09 15:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499140 Signs of climate change in Bolivia s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499580 Poor women and men throughout Bolivia are already experiencing the consequences of climate change, but in most cases are ill-equipped to adapt to the present and future impacts. Women are often the hardest hit.


Bolivia can expect five main impacts as a result of climate change:

  • Less food security
  • Glacial retreat affecting water availability
  • More frequent and more intense ‘natural’ disasters
  • An increase in mosquito-borne diseases
  • More forest fires
]]> 2019-02-09 15:59:30 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499580 Four photos showing retreat of Chacaltaya glacier, Bolivia, from 1940 to 2005. s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499965 2019-02-09 16:03:02 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329499965 Evaluation s_asta https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329631975 The Bio Areas are all quite similar but of course differ depending on the location of the Area. Some people decided to pick a new are for each theme, like me, but others studied the same are in all three themes. Some people had decorated their are more than others and put more photos, maps and such. It also seems that the majority picked their home country as their BioArea, I however chose different locations around the world I wanted to learn more about.]]> 2019-02-10 18:32:32 UTC https://padlet.com/s_asta/d1koe3z2wyaf/wish/329631975