ARIE
Area of Relevant Ecological Interest
ARIE Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project
ARIE BDFFP is a federal conservation unit in the Amazon biome, created to protect one of the world's most important forest fragmentation experiments. Its creation ensured the permanence of key areas for tracking, over decades, how the forest responds to isolation, edge formation, and changes in land use.
Covering 3,180.05 hectares, the unit preserves BDFFP's experimental design: forest fragments and continuous forest areas used to compare the effects of fragmentation on biodiversity, ecological processes, and Amazon forest dynamics. This setting allows researchers to assess changes in trees, fauna, microclimate, regeneration, and ecological interactions at a scale that is rare for long-term tropical studies.
Official unit data
What makes ARIE strategic
Long-term living laboratory
The unit includes 23 forest polygons distributed along the ZF-3 access road, including isolated fragments and continuous-forest control areas.
Science and conservation base
Studies carried out in ARIE help explain how fragmentation changes species, edges, microclimate, regeneration, and ecological processes in the Amazon.
Management and planning
The unit has a management council, an approved management plan, zoning, and official boundaries made available by ICMBio.
Surrounding pressures
The management plan calls attention to pressures such as urban expansion, hunting, irregular occupation, and settlement projects nearby.
Sensitive biodiversity
The official list records threatened species such as the harpy eagle and jaguar, reinforcing the importance of protecting the area.
Official source
Administrative data, management plan, zoning, management council, and boundaries are available on the unit page at ICMBio.
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