South American Synthesis Initiative for Tropical Mountain Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

A new collaborative project entitled "South American Synthesis Initiative for Tropical Mountain Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - TROMBIOS" started on 1 June 2026, with the collaboration of researchers and stakeholders based in countries in tropical South America, Europe and Australia. The project is funded by FAPESP and is part of the activities of the Latin American and Caribbean hub of the the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA). The hub is based in the Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Brazil. 

For more information about regional centres see GMBA hubs and visit the GMBA LAC hub page. For details about the project, see the project website, hosted by GMBA (coming soon).

Last updated: 16 August 2026

PELD-PECJ  participated in LifePlan, a global biodiversity project (Jan 2022 - May 2025)

PELD-PECJ was one the participating research sites in the LifePlan project, a planetary inventory of biodiversity. Data collection started on 1 January 2022 in Parque Estadual de Campos do Jordão, following a common sampling protocol:  https://www.helsinki.fi/en/projects/lifeplan/instructions.

A preliminary list of identified bird species using sound recordings over 24 months in PECJ contains 292 species. This compares with 202 species in a similar habitat c. 20 km away in urban Campos do Jordão with recordings over 17 months. Confirmation of species identities and analysis of the data are underway.

A preliminary list of fungal operational taxonomic units based on sequencing the DNA of 131 weekly air samples collected in PECJ and in a forest remnant in urban Campos do Jordão contains just short of 6000 entries. The list does not contain an entry for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungus known to cause chitridiomycosis of anurans. 

Last updated: 16 August 2026