NUNA – NAPO RIVER BASIN, SOUL OF BIODIVERSITY

START – END DATE: March 2018 – November 2019

STATUS: Completed

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Elisa Bonaccorso ( USFQ Researcher and Professor)

LOCATION: Napo River Basin, Ecuador

PROJECT DURATION: 20 months

FUNDING: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Web: Nuna Ecuador

The objective of NUNA is to expand the baseline of the fauna diversity of the Napo River basin and describe the geographical and environmental parameters through vegetation monitoring. The project suggests to explore and validate the biological wealth of the Napo river basin and the benefits it provides for the awareness of all Ecuadorians and its preservation for future generations. The field work was focused on 10 representative communities, which many of them have not been profoundly investigated: Antisanilla Reserve, Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Narupa Reserve, Llanganates Sur National Park, Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park, headwaters of the Curaray river headwaters (San Virgilio), middle Curaray river (Genepade and Gomataon), lower Curaray river (Ninamaru), Lagarto, Pocoya, Aguarico and Napo rivers, and La Bonita. The support and work of the local communities in the Napo basin was essential to fulfill NUNA's goals of discovering and protecting the incredible biodiversity of this region. Their participation and collaboration facilitated the expeditions in the provinces that were part of this project: Napo, Pichincha, Pastaza, Sucumbíos and Orellana.