Dr. Helder Queiroz
Helder obtained his Ph.D. in October 2000. He has since returned to Brazil as the Deputy Director of the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development (IDSM), where he is working to preserve the biodiversity of the flooded forest in Amazonia.
Ph.D. Project:
The pirarucu (Arapima gigas) and arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhossum) are key members of the Amazonian fish fauna. They belong to the Osteoglossidae, a very ancient group of fish. Perhaps the most striking feature of the pirarucu is its size: adults can exceed 3m in length. The arowana is well known for the jumps it performs from shallow water to low branches of trees in the Amazonian flooded forest to catch small invertebrates. The pirarucu is also excellent eating and a highly-prized, but (perhaps inevitably) threatened species. The arowana is not a threatened species, but is of high economic importance in Amazonia. Since 1993 Helder Queiroz has been studying wild pirarucu and arowana in the Brazilian Amazon to gain information on population structure, habitat use, feeding behaviour and predation, growth patterns, and mate choice (both in the wild and in captivity). Fundamental issues in reproductive behaviour are also being explored. The main objective of the project is to gather information essential to support stock management, sustainable use and conservation of these fish species at the Amazon. The work is funded by CNPq/MCT, WCS, WWF, ABC (Brazilian Academy of Sciences), DFID-UK, IPAAM-AM.
A pirarucu from the Brazilian amazon.
Selected References:
Queiroz HL & Crampton WGR (Editors) (1999). Estratégias para manejo de recursos pesqueiros em Mamirauá. SCM, CNPq/MCT. Brasília. 208 pp. 197pp.
Queiroz HL (1999). Artisanal Fisheries of Pirarucu at the Mamirauá Ecological Station. In: Vázea: diversity, development, and conservation of Amazonia's whitewater floodplains. (Padock C, Ayres M, Pinedo-Vasquez M & Henderson A organisers). Advances in Economic Botany, Volume 13. New York Botanical Garden Press. New York. 407pp.
Ayres JM, Lima-Ayres D, Albernaz AL, Marmontel M, Queiroz HL, Barthem R, Alves AR, Moura E, Silveira R & Santos P (1997). Mamirauá: The Conservation of Amazonian Flooded Forest. (Chapter 7). In: Community Involvement in Wetland Management: Lessons from the field. ICWD, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 278 pp.
Queiroz HL (1994). Preguiças e Guaribas: Os Mamíferos Folívoros Arborícolas do Mamirauá. Sociedade Civil Mamirauá, CNPq/MCT. Brasília. 120pp.
Queiroz HL (1992). A New Species of Capuchin Monkey, Genus Cebus, Erxleben, 1777, (Cebidae: Primates) from Eastern Amazonia. Goeldiana Zoologia 15:1-13.
