Rio Acre Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica do Rio Acre) is an ecological station in the state of

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Rio Acre Ecological Station, which covers , was created on 2 June 1981. It is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

. The ecological station lies in the municipalities of

Assis Brasil Assis Brasil () is a municipality located in the south of the Brazilian state of Acre. Its population is 7,534 (2020 est) and its area is . The municipality contains part of the Rio Acre Ecological Station. It also contains part of the Chico ...

and

Sena Madureira Sena Madureira () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the center of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Acre (state), Acre. Its population is 46,511 and its area is , making it the largest municipality in the state. It ha ...

in the state of

. It contains Amazon forest bounded to the north by an Indian reservation and to the south by the Acre River.

Environment

The vegetation is characterized by open forests of palms and bamboos. 255 species of birds have been found in the alluvial forests, and 189 species in the open forests. The first occurrence in Brazil of several species of birds was first recorded in the ecological station, including

sapphire-spangled emerald The sapphire-spangled emerald (''Chionomesa lactea'') is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is regularly found in Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela; as a vagrant in Argentina; and has po ...

(Amazilia lactea),

Guianan warbling antbird The Guianan warbling antbird (''Hypocnemis cantator'') is an insectivorous bird in the antbird family, Thamnophilidae. It is found at lower levels in humid forest in the Guianas, far eastern Venezuela (with Guyana), and north-eastern Brazil (no ...

(Hypocnemis cantator), buff-fronted foliage-gleaner (Philydor rufum),

wedge-billed woodcreeper The wedge-billed woodcreeper (''Glyphorynchus spirurus''), is a passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World from southern Mexico to northern Bolivia, central Brazil and the Guianas; it is absent from the Pacific coastal areas except be ...

(Glyphorynchus spirurus), Tschudi's woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus ocellatus chunchotambo) and

russet-backed oropendola The russet-backed oropendola (''Psarocolius angustifrons'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is found in wooded habitats in the highlands of the northern and central Andes and the Venezuelan Coastal Range, and in lowlands of the w ...

(Psarocolius angustifrons). The station is rich in species of amphibian, including about 40% of all the species recorded in the state of Acre. The yellow-spotted river turtle is found in small numbers, but is subject to increasing pressure from people hunting the eggs. 44 species of terrestrial mammals have been recorded, including the threatened

giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(Priodontes maximus),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecopha ...

(Myrmecophaga tridactyla),

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, ...

(Ateles chamek),

Goeldi's marmoset The Goeldi's marmoset or Goeldi's monkey (''Callimico goeldii'') is a small, South American New World monkey that lives in the upper Amazon basin region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. It is the only species classified in the genus ''C ...

(Callimico goeldii),

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 ...

(Tapirus terrestris),

neotropical otter The Neotropical otter or Neotropical river otter (''Lontra longicaudis'') is an otter species found in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the island of Trinidad. It is physically similar to the northern and southern river otter, which o ...

(Lontra longicaudis),

margay The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlife ...

(Leopardus wiedii),

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 ...

(Panthera onca) and

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(Puma concolor).

Conservation

The Ecological Station is a "strict nature reserve" under

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is par ...

Ia. It was created to preserve the headwaters of the

Acre River The Acre River (called Aquiry in the local Iñapari language; locally, ''Rio Acre'') is a long river in central South America. Course The river is born in Peru, and runs North-Eastwards, forming part of the border between Peru and Brazil and the ...

and to promote research. The conservation unit is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Ecological station (Brazil) 1981 establishments in Brazil Ecological stations of Brazil Protected areas of Acre (state) Protected areas established in 1981