Notícias
Expedition in the heart of the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest investigates the socio-ecological interactions of açaí
Written by Liana Chesini and Carine Emer, researchers at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute, FAPERJ fellows
Of significant importance in the diet and culture of traditional and indigenous peoples, açaí is today one of the most important products in the global 'superfoods' market. The exponential increase in demand for açaí fruits (estimated at 14,000% in the last decade) has generated equally exponential pressure on the natural environments where this resource is exploited, in a process known as the 'Açaízation of the Amazon'.
To understand the workings of this socio-ecological system in full transformation, we embarked on a scientific expedition into the heart of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon. We used natural history, ecological theories, image capture technologies, artificial intelligence and local traditional knowledge to test how the extraction of açaí ( Euterpe precatoria ) in forest areas, agroforests and backyards affects and is affected by frugivory interactions - an ecological process in which animals feed on the fruit and, in return, disperse the seeds to safe places, maintaining the forest's natural regeneration cycle.
We work in the middle Juruá region, 800 km from Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, almost on the border with Peru. Here we navigate the most winding river in the world, the Juruá River, which is of high importance to the local communities. The main town in the region is called Carauari and has around 30,000 inhabitants. It can be reached by air (two hours from Manaus - if you're lucky and your flight isn't canceled) or by river, which can take more than a week by boat! During the first half of 2023, our field team worked in the urban and rural areas of Carauari and in nearby (by Amazonian standards) communities such as Pupuaí and São Raimundo, three and twelve hours from the city respectively, again by boat and if you have a good outboard motor!
We traveled along muddy roads, rivers and streams (Figure 1) in search of the interactions between açaí and the animals that feed on its fruit. In addition to the challenges of the complex logistics of the rainforests, we faced the inclement weather, with days of heavy rain during the Amazon winter! At the end of 120 days in the field, we had installed 90 camera traps and made 90 hours of direct observations, which added up to more than 600 days and 15,000 hours of observations (Figure 2). We would like to highlight the importance of the Instituto Juruá team, who helped with field organization, accommodation and transport, which were essential for this work to take place in such a short space of time.
Another aspect to be highlighted was the interaction with local communities. As açaí is the most widely consumed fruit in the Amazon region and is the staple food of many local communities, we believe it is important that the people who make a living from extractivism are aware of the changes in external demand for the product and how to measure their impact. Through citizen-science practices, we trained some people from the communities in the use of camera traps and it was these same people who climbed the plants to install the cameras high up in the forest, whose commitment was fundamental to making this work happen. The proximity of the communities made it possible to learn a great deal about traditional açaí extraction practices, where we accompanied them from the collection of the fruit using a 'peconha' to the extraction of the pulp for final consumption (Figure 3).
Açaí extraction has expanded its frontiers and is no longer restricted to the Amazon. Well known in the Atlantic Forest, the juçara palm (Euterpe edulis), which is threatened with extinction and protected by law due to predatory palm heart extraction, has fruits with high nutritional quality and a mild flavor, the pulp of which can also be used to make 'açaí da juçara', or 'açaí da Mata Atlântica'. In ecological terms, the juçara palm is considered a fundamental species for fauna in times of scarcity of resources in the forest, especially for larger birds such as the jacutinga (Pipile jacutinga).
To understand how the extraction of juçara palm fruit affects ecological interactions in a biodiversity center like the Atlantic Forest, we spent 30 days in the field in the lush hillside forest of the Rio de Janeiro coast, in the municipality of Paraty - RJ. Between countless ascents and descents into secondary forests, agroforestry and forest restoration areas, we installed 30 camera traps on 30 juçara individuals. Added to the direct observations, our field hours in the Atlantic Forest amounted to more than 500 days of sampling and around 12,000 hours of observation. Among the many interactions recorded, we highlight the sabiás (video 1) and bem-te-vis eating açaí fruits (video 2) in agroforestry areas and backyards and species such as jacus feeding on both açaí and juçara palm fruits (video 3). The project is in the data analysis phase and the next step is to use artificial intelligence to help sort through the more than 100,000 videos.
The research is part of the project 'Network ecology applied to socio-ecological systems: food security, ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation' funded by the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation - FAPERJ (N Process E-26/200.610/2022), with resources from FAPERJ Notice 40/2021 - Support Program for Young Researchers from the State of Rio de Janeiro, granted to Dr. Carine Emer. These funds include the post-doctoral scholarship for Dr. Liana Chesini Rossi, approved for the project "Socio-ecological networks of plant-frugivore interactions in a gradient of extractivism of non-timber forest products" (N process E-26/206.120/2022) with the collaboration of doctoral student Evelynne de Barros, from the Federal University of Alagoas.
The project is linked to the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute in partnership with the Juruá Institute and the support of Fazenda Bananal/Grupo Z House.
- Figure 3: Stages in the extraction of açaí pulp: (a) collection of the fruit by local farmer Henrique Cunha, a resident of the São Raimundo community in the middle of Juruá; (b) removal of the fruit from the stalk; (c) extraction of the pulp in the traditional way, using a pulping machine; and (d) pulp ready for consumption.
Video 2: Bem-te-vi ( Pitangus sulphuratus ) feeding on açaí fruits in a backyard area.
Video 3. jacu ( Penelope obscura ) feeding on juçara fruit in a forest area