protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
. It protects part of the
Ucayali moist forests
The Ucayali moist forests (NT0174) is an ecoregion in the western Amazon rainforest of Peru.
Geography Location
The Ucayali moist forest ecoregion is to the east of the Andes mountains in Peru.
It is bounded to the east by the Ucayali River, a ...
ecoregion.
History
In 1963, the Biavo-Cordillera Azul National Forest was established, spanning 2,178,000 hectares. In 1997, this area is declared as a forest for timber production, leaving it open to logging operations. However, in 1999, Red Ambiental Peruana (an alliance of several NGOs) and COPRI (the authority for rights for timber exploitation) conduct research in the area and agree to protect the northern part of the forest due to its high biodiversity. In 2000, the Cordillera Azul Reserved Zone is established on the mountainous part of the national forest, and a team from the
Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
begins an assessment of the biodiversity in the area. Based on such assessment, the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture recommends the area is protected as a national park. The Cordillera Azul National Park was established in 2001 during the tenure of president
Valentín Paniagua
Valentín Toribio Demetrio Agustin Paniagua Corazao (23 September 1936 – 16 October 2006) was a Peruvian lawyer and politician who briefly served as President of Peru from 2000 to 2001. Elected President of Congress on 16 November 2000, he a ...
.
Geography
''Cordillera Azul National Park'' is located in the regions of San Martin, Loreto, Huanuco and Ucayali; between the Huallaga and
Ucayali
The Ucayali River ( es, Río Ucayali, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón close to Nauta city. The city o ...
rivers. Elevations in the park are in the range of 100–2350 m, and the main landscape features are: mountains, hills and ample valleys. Mountains inside the park can have steep slopes, and landslides are frequent. In the southern section of the park, there is an area of highland swamps, at 1400 m of elevation. At the northern end of the park, the Huallaga river opens a water gap in the mountain range, east of Chazuta, this feature is known as Pongo de Aguirre.
Ecology
Flora
Montane forests cover most of the park's area, although it also includes sections of dry forest to the west and lowland Amazon rainforest to the east. Among the plant species found in the area are: '' Ceiba insignis,
Ficus
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending in ...
'' spp''.,
Tabernaemontana sananho
''Tabernaemontana sananho'' is a tropical tree species in the family Apocynaceae known as lobo sanango. Lobo sanango grows in the Amazon Basin of northern South America.
Chemical composition
The plant is reported to contain coronaridine, 3-hy ...
Swietenia macrophylla
''Swietenia macrophylla'', commonly known as mahogany, Honduran mahogany, Honduras mahogany, or big-leaf mahogany is a species of plant in the Meliaceae family. It is one of three species that yields genuine mahogany timber (Swietenia), the othe ...
,'' ''
Triplaris americana
''Triplaris americana'' is a species of flowering plant in the Polygonaceae, knotweed family known by many common names, including ant tree
,
Miconia
''Miconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall. The generic name ...
Schefflera
''Schefflera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. With an estimated 600–900 species, the genus represents about half of its family. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas, growing tall, with woody stems, the absence of ...
'' spp., ''
Erythrina
''Erythrina'' is a genus of plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, with the larger species growing up to in height. The generic na ...
ulei'', ''
Alchornea triplinervia
''Alchornea triplinervia'' is a commercial timber tree native to Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Forest, and Cerrado vegetation in Brazil. This plant is found in the following states of Brazil: Amazonas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso ...
Calophyllum brasiliense
''Calophyllum brasiliense'' (guanandi) is a species of plant in the family ''Calophyllaceae''. It is native to subtropical and tropical regions of Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
Description
It is an evergreen tree grow ...
,
Pouteria
''Pouteria'' is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the canistel ('' P. campechiana''), the mamey sapote ('' P. sapota''), and the lu ...
Hevea guianensis
''Hevea guianensis'' is a species of rubber tree in the genus '' Hevea'', belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the rainforests of Ecuador, Venezuela, the Guyanas, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. It generally grows on well-drained soi ...
'', ''
Dracontium spruceanum
''Dracontium spruceanum'' is a tropical flowering plant species of the Amazon rainforest understory. It has been found in the South American countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, as well as in the Central American countri ...
,
Attalea maripa
''Attalea maripa'', commonly called maripa palm is a palm native to tropical South America and Trinidad and Tobago. It grows up tall and can have leaves or fronds long. This plant has a yellow edible fruit which is oblong ovoid and cream. An e ...
,
Brosimum alicastrum
''Brosimum alicastrum'', commonly known as the breadnut or ramon, is a tree species in the family Moraceae of flowering plants, whose other genera include Ficus, figs and mulberry, mulberries. The plant is known by a range of names in Mesoamer ...
,
Asplenium serratum
''Asplenium serratum'', the bird's nest spleenwort, wild birdnest fern, or New World birdnest fern, is a fern of the New World/Americas.
Distribution
The fern is native to tropical Brazil, the Caribbean, and Florida of the Southeastern United St ...
,
Heliconia rostrata
''Heliconia rostrata'', the hanging lobster claw or false bird of paradise, is a herbaceous perennial plant native to El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, and naturalized in Puerto Rico. Other heliconias g ...
Myroxylon balsamum
''Myroxylon balsamum'', Santos mahogany, is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical forests from Southern Mexico through the Amazon regions of Peru and Brazil at elevations of . Plants are found growing in well d ...
Virola calophylla
''Virola calophylla'' is a species of tree in the family Myristicaceae. It is native to Central America and South America, namely Panama,
Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia (Department of Amazonas, Department of Vaupés), Ecuador ( Napo ...
Podocarpus oleifolius
''Podocarpus oleifolius'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
''Podocarpus oleifolius'' contains one sub ...
,
Theobroma cacao
''Theobroma cacao'', also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest pro ...
,
Cedrelinga cateniformis
''Cedrelinga'' is a genus of tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants wit ...
Jacaranda copaia
''Jacaranda copaia'' is a flowering pioneer tree belonging to the genus ''Jacaranda''. It is native to the Amazon Rainforest in Northern of South America.
Description
The tree is evergreen or semi-deciduous and produces bluish purple flowers fr ...
Spondias mombin
''Spondias mombin'', also known as yellow mombin or hog plum is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in Sout ...
Hoplias malabaricus
''Hoplias malabaricus'', also known as the wolf fish, tiger fish, guabine or trahira, is a predatory Central and South American freshwater ray-finned fish of the characiform family Erythrinidae.
Description
The maximum known length for this spe ...
Leporinus
''Leporinus'' is a genus of fish in the family Anostomidae native to South America. The fossil species ''Leporinus scalabrinii'', known from the late Miocene of Entre Ríos in Argentina, has only recently been added to this genus after being mis ...
'' spp''.,
Piaractus brachypomus
''Piaractus brachypomus'', the pirapitinga, is a large species of pacu, a close relative of piranhas and silver dollars, in the serrasalmid family.Nico, L.; P. Fuller; and M. Neilson (22 October 2013)Piaractus brachypomus.USGS Nonindigenous Aqua ...
,
Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum
''Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum'' or barred sorubim or barred catfish is a species of long-whiskered catfish native to the Suriname, Corantijn and Essequibo. The nocturnal predator feeds mainly on other fish and crabs. Females reach a more notable ...
,
Zungaro zungaro
The gilded catfish or ''jau'' (''Zungaro zungaro'') is a South American catfish (order (biology), order Siluriformes) of the family (biology), family Pimelodidae. It is also known as ''manguruyu'' or black manguruyu.
Taxonomy
By some sources, it ...
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
, the
muscovy duck
The Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') is a large duck native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. Small wild and feral breeding populations have established themselves in the United Sta ...
short-tailed parrot
The short-tailed parrot (''Graydidascalus brachyurus'') is the only species of the genus ''Graydidascalus''. It is found along both banks of the Amazon river and other major Amazonian rivers in Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. As sug ...
harpy eagle
The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the ...
, the
jabiru
The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...
, the
blue-and-yellow macaw
The blue-and-yellow macaw (''Ara ararauna''), also known as the blue-and-gold macaw, is a large South American parrot with mostly blue top parts and light orange underparts, with gradient hues of green on top of its head. It is a member of the la ...
, the
fork-tailed palm swift
The fork-tailed palm swift or Neotropical palm swift (''Tachornis squamata'') is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae. It is found across most of northern South America and on Trinidad and Tobago.HBW and BirdLife ...
bush dog
The bush dog (''Speothos venaticus'') is a canine found in Central and South America. In spite of its extensive range, it is very rare in most areas except in Suriname, Guyana and Peru; it was first identified by Peter Wilhelm Lund from fossils ...
, the
puma
Puma or PUMA may refer to:
Animals
* ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae
** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat
Businesses and organisations
* Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company
* Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...
, the
common opossum
The common opossum (''Didelphis marsupialis''), also called the southern or black-eared opossum or gambá, and sometimes called a possum, is a marsupial species living from the northeast of Mexico to Bolivia (reaching the coast of the South Paci ...
, the
brown-mantled tamarin
The brown-mantled tamarin (''Leontocebus fuscicollis''), also known as Spix's saddle-back tamarin, is a species of saddle-back tamarin. This New World monkey is found in the Southern American countries of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. This omnivorous ...
, the
Peruvian spider monkey
The Peruvian spider monkey (''Ateles chamek''), also known as the black-faced black spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey that lives in Peru, as well as in Brazil and in Bolivia. At long, they are relatively large among species of monkey, ...
, the
jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
, the
white-lipped peccary
The white-lipped peccary (''Tayassu pecari'') is a species of peccary found in Central America, Central and South America and the only member of the genus ''Tayassu''. Multiple subspecies have been identified. White-lipped peccaries are similar ...
, the
red brocket
The red brocket (''Mazama americana'') is a species of brocket deer from forests in South America, ranging from northern Argentina to Colombia and the Guianas. It also occurs on the Caribbean island of Trinidad (it also occurred on the island of ...
, the
South American tapir
The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushcow ...