The Atlantic Forest may very well be the most imperiled tropical ecosystem in the world: it is estimated that seven percent (or less) of the original forest remains. Lining the coast of Brazil, what is left of the forest is largely patches and fragments that are hemmed in by metropolises and monocultures. Yet, some areas are worse than others, such as the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, a region in the northeast that has largely been ignored by scientists and conservation efforts. Here, 98 percent of the forest is gone, and 70 percent of what remains are patches measuring less than 10 hectares. Due to this fragmentation all large mammals have gone regionally extinct, while the medium and small sized mammals are described by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes, a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco, as the 'living dead'.
Pontes with his students at a lab Christmas confraternization: he is in the center. Photo courtesy of Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes.
The threats to the region and its species are numerous: from widespread hunting to forest exploitation for burning wood and construction material, from a boom in sugarcane biofuels to poor governance. Behind all of this is extreme poverty and a lack of education, according to Pontes.
"Absolute misery and indecent salaries for the lowest classes […] prevent them from having access to the very basic daily items, such as animal protein, gas butane for cooking and other purposes, construction materials, and so on," he says.
Despite the massive loss of habitat, the expiration of whole species, continued widespread hunting, and rampant exploitation of existing forests, the region still holds surprises. One of these was the blond capuchin: a Critically Endangered monkey species whose discovery was only announced to the world in 2006 by Pontes, who urged immediate conservation measure for the species.
But that's not all. Since then Pontes and his team have found an unknown porcupine which is actually a new occurrence for the Genus Sphiggurus in that region and is most probably a new species for science. The discovery is the result of cooperation between Pontes, at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and Dr Yuri Leite, from Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, who is currently conducting DNA analysis. The find was sponsored by Conservation International under its Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund. Pontes adds that there are several other mammals that may in fact by new species, but they are not yet ready to unveil.
However these discoveries of new species—already on the brink of extinction and possibly even the 'living dead'—only show us how much we have already lost, according to Pontes, and what we will lose if urgent action isn't taken in the region.
The possible new species of porcupine, Sphiggurus sp., collected with the appropriate licences and subsequently released in the forest. Photo courtesy of Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes.
"This entire catastrophe happened in obscurity, without being noticed or recorded. The large mammals were simply not there when we arrived, although past literature and reports from older local inhabitants refer to them: jaguars, pumas, giant ant-eater, white-lipped peccaries, tapirs, among many others, known and unknown," Pontes says.
He envisions a time when the forest may only contain three mammals: common marmoset, squirrel and sloths. Most primates, porcupines, cats, and all other tantalizing rarities will disappear entirely.
"There are still many mammals living there, begging for a chance to survive—even species that we bet would not be there, such as jaguarundis, ocelots, the blond capuchin, and so on—and they deserve our greatest efforts to provide them with a better life, and possibly a less bleak future," Pontes says
Pontes isn't giving up on the forest. In order to save the species and the ecosystem he says that the first thing which is needed is round the clock patrols to prevent people from hunting animals and cutting down the forest. Next, he says the local population require attention, including sustainable livelihoods and environmental education.
"We can still save the CEPE, but we all have to wish to: local inhabitants, land-owners, politicians, decision-makers in general, and even children. If we provide nature with the minimum it will make the most of it and will reward us with blossoming life," Pontes says, pointing out that with a tiny reforestation project (just 6 hectares) the blond capuchin population—the only recorded in the world—has gone from 30 individuals to 44, nearly a 50 percent bump.
The Critically Endangered blond capuchin. Here: An imposing sentinel adult male staring at Cássia, close to Mingú lake at Usina Salgado mill, State of Pernambuco. Picture by research student Cássia Rodrigues.
Conservation for Pontes is a calling, both scientific and spiritual: "My heart (mind, actually) compels me to say that [we need to preserve nature] because it is God’s creation, because we need nature for our self-equilibrium, and because it is God’s cup from which we drink, but it is more than that"—and once more Pontes becomes the astute scientist: "I would mention just the most important: The Pernambuco Endemism Centre is unique, extremely biodiversity-rich, and mostly unknown, but because of lack of investment, mainly in biodiversity inventories and conservation alternatives, with most studies concentrating on other regions, such as south-east, we most certainly lost, and are losing unknown—and endemic—species, and with them, our ability to understand the evolutionary process that led to it."
When asked about the future of the Pernambuco Endemism Centre in the Atlantic Forest, Pontes concludes that due to such high fragmentation and the loss of so many species there is no 'future', but in fact "the future is today".
"This is most certainly the end of line, a scenario that announces that the [Pernambuco Endemism Centre] is about to vanish," he says. "The future is today."
In a September 2009 interview, Mongabay.com spoke with Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes about his calling as a naturalist and conservationist; his new book; the continued destruction of the Atlantic Forest; possible conservation initiatives; new species, including the blond capuchin and the undescribed porcupine; the little-known olingo; and the future—if there will be one—for the Pernambuco Endemism Centre.
INTERVIEW WITH ANTONIO ROSSANO MENDES PONTES
Mongabay: What is your background? 
Pontes carrying out daily surveys of medium-sized mammals in one of our trails. Photo courtesy of Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes.
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: In 1990 I finished a Biological Sciences course at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Recife, North-eastern Brazil), and got a job at the Federal University of Roraima (northernmost Brazilian Amazonia), which I am one of the founder members (stayed in Roraima between 1990-95).
In 1994 I got a scholarship from the British Council in Brazil to attend an M.Phil. course at Cambridge University, England, at the Wildlife Research Group, under the supervision of Dr David Chivers, whose first Brazilian student was famous conservationist Marcio Ayres (in 1995 I moved to the Federal University of Pernambuco, my mother University).
In 1996 I got a scholarship from the Brazilian National Research Council to do a Ph.D. in the same place at Cambridge University.
Mongabay: What drew you to working with mammals?
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: I was always obsessed with knowing what the animals were doing in the jungle, and with the possibility of being with them without disturbing them. I remember various times when I was still a child and argued with my father because I wanted to get out of the car and go into the forest to see ‘what they were doing’. One day I saw news in a Brazilian magazine about the jaguar project then run by renowned conservationist George Schaller. I fell in love for jaguars and got in touch with George, we exchanged many letters and books, he took me to visit the project in the depths of the Pantanal forests at the age of 15, and I found out my vocation. I have since published the only article in literature on direct observations of jaguars and peccaries.
Mongabay: How did you become interested in the Atlantic Forest? 
View of the study transect within Boca da mata, with a natural archway made of lianas. Photo courtesy of Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes.
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: Forests are my heaven on earth. I need them in order to maintain my mind and my body in balance. The first thing that I did when I left the dry-scrub region where I grew up in the country-side of Northeastern Brazil, was to go into the Atlantic forest of Recife, at the Dois Irmãos Zoo, and I can still feel the emotion of the first contact, the smell of the forest, the coolness, and the eyes of the common marmosets staring at me curiously. I then looked for a project in which I could be trained in that forest, and with those lovely creatures, the common marmosets. In 1986 I was accepted in a project to study the ecology and behavior of the common marmosets in those forests of Dois Irmãos Zoo.
During this project I started witnessing the devastating impacts that human beings are inflicting on these absolutely neglected and unprotected forests. I decided that no matter where I would go, I would still do my little bit towards its conservation. I decided that I would not give up after I saw—all in the same place—huge intentional fires (that even destroyed my study area), slash-and-burn agriculture, trapping and slaughter of my beloved common marmosets and other mammals, dogs being sent to attack me, thieves using the forest as hiding place, invasion and cutting of trees by landless peasants, paths into the forest for caws and horses, and, of course, hunting in all its forms. I thought that I had to do something.
Mongabay: You recently wrote a book Amazonia and Other Forests of Brazil that describes your journey in becoming a naturalist and your work with various species throughout the Atlantic Forest, the Amazon, and the Pantanal. What made you decide to write this book?
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: It is the materialization of a dream that I had since I first walked into the forests of Brazil and they started unveiling this fascinating world of nature to me. I wanted very dearly to show to the world the life that exists in the forest, how the animals live their ordinary life in such extraordinary ways, how lovely they are, and how magnificent is to be part of this luxuriant world. I also wanted to show to everyone how terribly bad we are treating our forests, their bleak future, and, through my experiences, adventures, life threats, and scientific findings reported in the book, I ultimately hoped to contribute to raise awareness and promote conservation. If I succeed in stimulating curiosity towards nature I will be happy. The book can be found at Blackwell (UK), ABE (overseas) , among others. It will be available at amazon.com this coming fall.
STUDYING MAMMALS IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST ENDANGERED FORESTS
Mongabay: You work in the northeast part of the Atlantic Forest: can you describe for us the state of this area, the Pernambuco Endemism Centre?
The study group of blond capuchin, (Cebus queirozi), feeding/resting in the most exploited of all tree species, the African palm, Elaeis guineensis (the dendê), where they sleep, feed, rest, socialize, among other activities, at Usina Salgado mill, State of Pernambuco. Picture by research student Cássia Rodrigues.
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: The situation today is beyond critical. We are witnessing the dawn of a hotspot’s hotspot. Imagine one ecosystem, of which only 2% remains and that among these remnants 70% are not more than 10 hectares and the single largest fragment is only over 3,000 hectares. All the fragments are totally isolated and immersed in a sugar-cane massive matrix, most are located on the top of high hills which were useless for sugar-cane (i.e. not representative of the various other micro-habitats that once existed), and the fragments are not at all pristine, but forest-border like. In this catastrophic scenario 50% of all trees have gone extinct. Coincidently, 50% of all medium-sized and large mammals (large such as jaguars, pumas, giant ant-eaters, white-lipped peccaries, tapirs, and so on) have gone extinct, and with them, the equilibrium of critical ecological processes that maintained a healthy forest, such as dispersion (tapirs alone disperse tons of small and large fruits). Most remaining medium-sized mammals live in abundances that are not at all sustainable in the long term, that is to say, they are the 'living dead'. They will most probably disappear if this trend continues, and after all, if they manage to survive long enough, inbreeding will cause these unfortunate populations to disappear. Three species (common marmoset, squirrel and sloths) may be an exception to this, due to presenting comparatively higher abundances because of their smaller size and very generalist diet, combined with the absence of predators. Much has been discussed about how to save this critically-endangered ecosystem, but my daily experience in the jungle, to make it very plain, is of local people carrying on the exploitation of these forests, cutting trees and hunting what is left, unaware of the importance of its preservation. In one of our study sites, in only five nights (from only 18:00 p.m. to 01:00 a.m.), we heard 29 gun shots. Most of these forests are within private properties.
Mongabay: What are the main threats to the region?
A southern tamandua, Tamandua tetradactyla, registered during nocturnal surveys near midnight in forest fragment Xanguazinho. Photo courtesy of Ramon Gadelha.
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes:
1. Uncontrollable, widespread, continuous hunting, neglected by the authorities. We have recently conducted research on various forest fragments and found out that hunting occurs in all forest fragments, and we detected more hunting in the forest fragments that have relatively more animals.
2. Forest destruction for various reasons: (2.1.) selective cutting by local people who live below the poverty line, and have no choice but to exploit the forest resources; (2.2.) wood collection for celebrations, such as the 'Saint John' party, when most families in the entire CEPE make fires in front of their houses to celebrate. They either collect the wood themselves, or buy from various dealers on the streets (and this type of forest destruction has been neglected for centuries); (2.3.) to build houses and fences; (2.4) for sugar-cane; (2.5) for pasture; (2.6) for charcoal, just to name but a few.
3. Invasion of the remnants by landless peasants, who nowadays are a huge population, and by rural small settlers who want to extend their subsistence agriculture.
4. Inexistent or – in many cases – inefficient protection of forest fragments by owners of private forests. The forests are protected on paper, and the owners and their families may even intend to protect the forests, but the policy of protecting fragments is inefficient, and therefore, hunting and wood collection is widespread.
5. Isolation of the fragments and the consequent accidents with animals being run over by cars when they try to cross the roads to reach other forest fragments or the matrix of sugar-cane to forage and feed.
Pontes says: "Our dedicated group of field surveyors who together discovered the new porcupine: (clockwise): Field assistant Perereca, field assistant Xibiu (behind the lady), the porcupine discoverers research students Ramon and Éverton, field assistant Mr. Severino, and dedicated environment protection encharged, Miss Evânia". Photo courtesy of Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes.
6. Mass extinction which has resulted in the simplification of the mammal community and suggests that the 21st century medium-sized mammal community of the CEPE will comprise only four species (out of ~35) that could survive in the smallest forest fragments of up to 10 hectares, which are: common marmoset, squirrel, sloth and agouti.
7. Irreversible genetic erosion because the animals have been isolated by hundreds of years: the damage may already have taken place – we just don't know. Just to give you a typical sad example: in one of our study areas we have a single group of blond capuchins that live in a tiny forested area formed by three isolated small forest fragments that together comprises only 47 hectares, which, in some cases, force them to walk on the ground for some 150 meters. Whereas capuchins may use areas of up to 800 hectares in groups of less than 20 animals, this isolated group has nowadays 44 individuals crowded in this tiny area.
8. The most perverse type of loss, which is the loss of the unknown since we are losing species that are unknown to science or we did not know they occurred in the area. Twenty-three species of endemic birds have already been described, as well as one species of reptile, four species of butterflies, two species of gastropods, at least four species of amphibians, and at least 11 species of trees. I myself have shown to the world the critically-endangered blond capuchin, our group is describing a new porcupine [see below for photo], and we are in the way to describe a few more.
Close-up. With only 44 left in the world will these blond capuchins (Cebus queirozi) survive? Picture by research student Cássia Rodrigues.
9. Lack of funds from the Government for research and conservation. The Federal and State Government would need to invest a lot more in biodiversity inventories and conservation projects. Current investments are minimal, and do not fulfill the need and urgency that the situation requires. For instance, since 2000 I have been working with my own savings and used my own (not 4x4) car (we still do not have a car), until this year Conservation International Brazil granted me some extremely valuable seed money for inventories, which has made a huge difference, and resulted in the discovery of a few species of medium-sized mammals that we did not know were there, one possibly new to science so far (we are looking at a few others), and made possible the understanding of the devastating impact that hunting has on the mammal assemblages.
10. The boom of biofuels (sugar-cane) is a new and immediate threat for the surviving forest fragments, because it is very likely that owners of the private properties which hold most of the remnants will be reluctant to expand and / or reconnecting the forest fragments, and even more reluctant to use part of the sugar-cane fields to do reforestation – little interest in a 'little-profit' activity. The Federal Government is very interested to present Brazilian biofuel as the solution for the petrol crisis, and will be supporting this expanding business in the name of the Brazilian economy.
11. Absolute misery and indecent salaries for the lowest classes which prevent them from having access to the very basic daily items, such as animal protein, gas butane for cooking and other purposes, construction materials, and so on.
Mongabay: What has happened to the large species of this highly fragmented forest?
Tapir in Brazil's Pantanal. A large mammal, the tapir no longer survives in the embattled Atlantic Forest. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes: In the past (e.g. 500 years ago, before the colonization process first started) the forest matrix formed a continuum that maintained the equilibrium of the original ecological processes responsible for the maintenance of minimum viable animal populations. This should be understood as populations which are (1) viable for at least the next 500 to 1,000 years, or, (2) for at least 50 generations, that (3) would be able to maintain at least 90% of their heterozygous level, and that (4) would have at least 500 individuals. The c. 3.000 km² that remains of the Pernambuco Endemism Centre makes the maintenance of minimum viable populations of the medium-sized and large mammals virtually impossible, simply because there is not enough room for their populations. It is because the CEPE today is formed by very small and highly impacted forest fragments isolated in a matrix of agricultural fields, mainly sugar-cane, and because the "sink effect" is also taking place (e.g. the effect of losing individuals that are killed in the non-forest matrix when they try to cross it to reach another more favorable site).
Additionally, hunting has considerably speeded up the process.
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