El Refugio is a 50,000 ha private reserve and research station operated by the Weeden Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in the United States. El Refugio is located in northeastern Bolivia (14°45′S, 61°00′W) adjacent to and partially overlapping the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, a rarely studied area of South America. The station is in a broad transition zone between moist Amazonian forest and the dry forest and grasslands characteristic of the Cerrado and Gran Pantanal.
Diverse habitats surround the biological station, including forests, riparian vegetation associated with the Río Paraguá, seasonally-flooded grasslands, and forest islands. The forests at El Refugio include a mixture of Amazonian and non-Amazonian elements, with patches of semi-deciduous terra firme forest, seasonally-flooded vine forest, riparian forest, and dry forest on an isolated outcrop of the Brazilian Shield. The grassland floods from 10 cm to two meters during the rainy season, while fire is a regular phenomenon during the dry season. Forest islands in the grassland range in size from a few square meters to approximately 10 ha, and include a mixture of woody, fire-tolerant shrubs and trees as well as grasses. The Río Paraguá is a small river, 10–30 m wide, much of which is covered by floating mats of aquatic vegetation.
To date, relatively little research has taken place at El Refugio. Species lists of prominent biotic groups (birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, and butterflies) form a baseline for further research, but are far from complete. In addition to species-specific studies, or investigations of species diversity across diverse habitat types, other research possibilities at the site include fire ecology, climate change—because it is located in a climate and habitat transition zone, the effects of climate change may be seen at sites like El Refugio before they become manifest in other areas—and wetland ecology, among many others. Additionally, El Refugio has populations of many threatened vertebrate species, including the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), and marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus). Primate species observed at El Refugio include Mico melanurus, Alouatta caraya, Ateles chamek, Cebus apella, and Aotus sp.
Facilities at El Refugio are basic but comfortable. Accommodations include cabins with single beds, hot showers, kitchen, and common room with a lab and small library. The station staff offers limited but very useful research assistance that may include manual labor (i.e., trail clearing, equipment construction and transport), the use of horses and canoes, and light data collection/monitoring during researcher absence. In addition, the station maintains a complete record of rainfall, river level, and temperature flux.
For more information please visit < http://www.weedenfdn.org> and click on El Refugio Huanchaca. For specific questions or reservations, please contact the El Refugio administrators at <dosmilanos@cotas.com.bo>.
