News

Bird populations are mysteriously declining at an Amazon park in Ecuador & beyond

Bird populations in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve have mysteriously halved, likely due to climate change disrupting insect numbers, revealing a troubling trend in untouched tropical forests....Read More 

A Journey with National Geographic

Ecologist and TBS Director Gonzalo Rivas, made a significant contribution to the National Geographic article highlighting the "Highway of Seeds"....Read More 

Amazonian River Dolphin

Amazonian river dolphins, Inia geoffrensis, also known as pink dolphins, are a species at risk of extinction. They can be found in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, an environment that is constantly threatened. To better understand and protect these amazing creatures ...Read More 

Unlocking Amazon's Ecological Wonders: Mineral Licks and Animal Nutrient Dispersal 

Ethan Duvall, a PhD candidate at Cornell University, accompanied by Naia Andrade Hoeneisen, a USFQ undergraduate researcher, are spending the summer at TBS studying the ecological importance of mineral licks (saladeros) ...Read More 

With students from Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia and USA, our 1st international Scientific illustration and Sketch Workshop successfully concluded!

During 8 days we walked through the forest day and night, swam in the river next to dolphins, watched 5 species of monkeys from the station, and appreciate the huge biodiversity of this place. Read More 

" Fluorescence in scorpions, a mystery to be solved". An article from National Geographic Spain, featuring pictures taken at Tiputini by Roberto García-Roa

Scorpions are an iconic model for studying fluorescence in the animal kingdom, although on many occasions this line of research is quite controversial. However, this biological phenomenon can be of great use to humans..... Read More (In Spanish)

Photo by Roberto García-Roa taken at Tiputini is a finalist in the Close-up Photographer of the Year 2021

Always happy that my work can contribute to show the outstanding species and behaviour that one can find in the diverse world of arthropods. The Top 100 winners gallery of Close-up Photographer of the Year 03 (2021). Over 9,000 pictures from 55 countries were entered this year across the nine categories.... Read More

Photo taken at Tiputini wins BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition 2021

This stark image taken at Tiputini and submitted by an evolutionary biologist and conservation photographer, Roberto Garcia-Roa won the ‘Behavioural Ecology category’ award at the BMC Ecology and Evolution Competition. “I found this epic scene in a wall of Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador Read More

New text published on the hyper-diverse fauna of Yasuní  

As an invitation to the most diverse group of organisms in the most diverse parcel of land on the planet, Guía de los Artrópodos del Parque Nacional Yasuní, Ecuador (Field Guide to the Arthropods of the Yasuní National Park) by Fernando Carceller and Kelly Swing is a compact photographic introduction to the major groups... Read More

Current impacts on field stations and field courses

The pandemic that has gripped the world for more than a full year has impacted all our lives in untold ways and is also having serious consequences for research in remote regions of the planet. Travel restrictions resulting from COVID-19 have essentially... Read More

Two different species of pygmy marmoset in the western Amazon

A team of primatologists from USFQ, Northern Illinois University, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, reported the existence of two species of pygmy marmosets in the Ecuadorian Amazon... Read More

Kelly Swing - TBS Director Emeritus

When USFQ administrators approached Kelly Swing in 1993 with the idea of establishing a biological field station in the Ecuadorian Amazon, “el Oriente”, he was fascinated by the possibility but immediately concerned about all the potential challenges. In the broadest sense, western Amazonia, particularly alon... Read More

David Romo - TBS Director Emeritus

David Romo’s work for TBS began in June 1996 as camp administrator. Although he always wanted to work towards conservation in Yasuní, he never imagined he would have the opportunity to serve in a place and institution as USFQ/TBS. During these 25 years, most of...Read More

Loss of an invaluable Tiputini founder and champion

To put it simply, the Tiputini Biodiversity Station would not exist if not for the dedicated engagement and profound commitment of Dr. Thomas H. Kunz, an outstanding professor of biology at Boston University and globally renowned bat specialist... Read More

Another legacy sealed…

In 1994, Dr. Terry Erwin, a lifelong Smithsonian entomologist, first came to Yasuní, explicitly to evaluate the environmental impacts of a newly opened oil road on the diversity of insects... Read More