Paul E. Ouboter

Institute for Neotropical Wildlife and Environmental Studies (NeoWild)

In Suriname, mercury (Hg) use has recently increased because of gold mining, which has put fish-reliant communities (e.g., Indigenous and Tribal) at risk of enhanced Hg exposure through the riverine fish these communities consume. To quantify how the magnitude of these risks change according to location and time, we measured total mercury (HgT) in...

The impacts of ecotourism on biodiversity are poorly understood and the outcome of this type of research is often contradictory. On the one hand ecotourism could impact the occurrence, survival or behavior of species, on the other hand ecotourism is often mentioned as providing a “human shield” by deterring negative practices like gold mining, logg...

The impacts of ecotourism on biodiversity are poorly understood and the outcome of research is often contradictory. On the one hand ecotourism could impact the occurrence, survival or behavior of species, on the other hand ecotourism is often mentioned as providing a “human shield” by deterring negative practices like gold mining, logging and hunti...

Previous research has found that women and children living in rural, interior communities in Suriname have high concentrations of mercury in hair. Freshwater fish from these areas also have high concentrations of mercury. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations in parts of the country use elemental mercury to extract gold from soils and se...

Purpose: The Caribbean Consortium for Research in Environmental and Occupational Health prospective environmental epidemiologic cohort study addresses the impact of chemical and non-chemical environmental exposures on mother/child dyads in Suriname. The study determines associations between levels of environmental elements and toxicants in pregnan...

Anomaloglossus is a species-rich genus of frogs endemic to the Guiana Shield that still harbours several unnamed species. According to a recent integrative taxonomic survey, the A. stepheni species group includes five valid nominal species and at least four putatively unnamed species, two in Brazil and two in Suriname. In this paper, we describe th...

Aim: Mapping Amazonian biodiversity accurately is a major challenge for integrated conservation strategies and to study its origins. However, species boundaries and their respective distribution are notoriously inaccurate in this region. Here, we generated a georeferenced database of short mtDNA sequences from Amazonian frogs, revised the species r...

Anomaloglossus is a species-rich genus of frogs endemic to the Guiana Shield that still harbors several unnamed species. Within the A. stepheni species group (which includes four valid nominal species), A. baeobatrachus has an uncertain taxonomic status, notably because the holotype was an unvouchered specimen depicted in a popular journal. Another...

Natural sources of mercury, historical gold mining, and contemporary artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) activities have led to mercury contamination in Suriname. Our primary objective was to evaluate mercury levels in hair of women and children from interior villages in Suriname where mercury levels in fish are elevated. We also estimated...

A large portion of the amphibian species occurring in Amazonia remains undescribed. A recent study on species delinea-tion in Anomaloglossus, a genus endemic to the Guiana Shield, demonstrated the existence of two undescribed species previously identified as A. degranvillei, which we describe herein. In addition to divergence at the molecular level...

Lack of resolution on species boundaries and distribution can hamper inferences in many fields of biology, notably biogeography and conservation biology. This is particularly true in megadiverse and under-surveyed regions such as Amazonia, where species richness remains vastly underestimated. Recently, integrative approaches using a combination of...

Brownsberg Nature Park in Suriname has a rich biodiversity. The area is also threatened by mining, illegal hunting and possibly also tourism. To assess the impact of threats on the terrestrial mammal community, a long-term continuous monitoring survey was started in 2012. To assess mammal presence, abundance and activity, 27 camera traps were place...

Many Amazonian frog species that are considered widely distributed may actually represent polyspecific complexes.. A minute tree frog from the Guiana Shield originally assigned to the allegedly widely distributed Dendropsophus brevifrons proved to be a yet undescribed species within the D. parviceps group. We herein describe this new species and pr...

Gold mining in the Guianas has a history that stretches back more than 150 years. Several international mining companies have productive working concessions in the region but the industry is still dominated, certainly in terms of geographic extent, numbers of miners and environmental impacts, by the small-scale sector. Small scale is something of a...

Since the 1980'th small-scale gold mining is on the increase in Suriname. Most mining occurs in the eastern part of the country. In the small-scale gold mining the gold is usually amalgamated to mercury. An estimated 1 kg of mercury enters the environment for every kg of gold extracted, which means at least 10,000 kg of mercury released annually in...

In Suriname, mercury (Hg) is released into the environment through gold mining activities and is biomagnified through the aquatic food web. Indigenous populations rely on fish as a major component of their diet and are potentially chronically exposed to Hg through consumption of tainted fish. The goal of this study is to determine the public health...

We conducted a herpetofaunal inventory at four sites in Southeastern Suriname from March 8–28th 2012, and recorded 47 species of amphibians and 42 species of reptiles. These numbers are lower than other areas within the Guiana Shield that are better sampled (e.g. Iwokrama, Guyana; Nouragues, French Guiana), but are relatively high when compared wit...

The path to better gold mining practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is rife with challenges due to the complex linkages between the high value intensity of gold, its spatial concentration in specific geological formations, and the social and economic conditions that render it one of the most financially attractive yet damaging land us...

The RAP team recorded 42 species of amphibians and 36 species of reptiles, including one species of frog in the genus Hypsiboas that is new to science. The amphibian community was most similar to those of forests on bauxite plateaus in western Suriname. Some rare species were collected, of which the tree frog Osteocephalus cabrerai and the amphisba...

The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to hu...

Mercury levels in sediment and predatory fish were measured for 53 localities in Suriname. The average mercury level in bottom sediment surpassed the Canadian standard for sediment in most localities, except the coastal plains. Of the predatory fish, 41 % had a mercury level above the European Union standard for human consumption of 0.5 μg g(-1). H...

The "Amphibians of Suriname" is the first overview of our present knowledge of this interesting group for Suriname. For all 104 species a short description, photograph, distribution map and data on natural history and taxonomy are given.

In Suriname, mercury (Hg) is released into the environment through gold mining activities and is biomagnified through the aquatic food web. Indigenous populations rely on fish as a major component of their diet and are potentially chronically exposed to Hg through consumption of tainted fish. The goal of this study is to determine the public health...

Data on terrestrial large-mammal communities were collected in the Brownsberg Nature Park, Raleighvallen/ Voltzberg area of the Central Suriname Nature Reserve and the Boven Coesewijne Nature Reserve. In the Brownsberg Nature Park we worked on the plateau, at approx. 500m elevation, in an area with limited illegal hunting. The Raleighvallen/ Voltzb...

In Suriname, mercury (Hg) is released into the environment through gold mining activities. Hg is biogeochemically cycled through a methylation process that converts inorganic Hg into methyl-mercury and is biomagnified in aquatic food chains from bacteria to piscivorous fish. Indigenous populations rely on fish as a major component of their diet and...

Background/Question/Methods Intertidal mudflats in Suriname are formed from fine sediments that travel northward on the Guiana current from the Amazon River and are part of the longest muddy coastline in the world. Crustaceans living in these mudflats serve as key prey items for millions of migratory shorebirds that breed in the Canadian Arctic an...

We investigated long-term changes in the fish fauna of Brokopondo Reservoir, Suriname, the first large reservoir (1560 km2) that was created in tropical rainforest. Before closure of the dam in 1964, the fish fauna of Suriname River had 172 species, high diversity and high evenness. The riverine fauna was dominated by small-sized species, but no si...

INTRODUCTION Following the CI RAP survey of October-November 2005, Nassau Mountain was visited again for a fish survey from March 29 - April 4, 2006 (short dry season). During this survey observations of amphibians and reptiles were noted as well. Thereafter a 10-day survey for amphibians and reptiles was carried out from July 15–24, 2005 (long rai...

The fish fauna of Lely Mountains and Nassau Mountains was sampled at 4 and 3 sites, respectively, during a Rapid Assessment Program expedition in November 2005. A total of 36 species were identified. Of these, 26 were collected in a lowland stream in the foot hills of Nassau Mountains (altitude 106 m above mean sea level). The fish fauna of 4 high-...