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FOREST ISLANDS IN AN AMAZONIAN
SAVANNA OF NORTHEASTERN BOLIVIA
BY
ROBERTO LANGSTROTH PLOTKIN
Slightly revised and reformatted from the dissertation submitted for the degree of
Ph.D. in Geography (1996) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
1999
Acknowledgments
I dedicate this dissertation to my son, Roberto Fanor Langstroth Ugalde, who was born in Santa
Cruz de la Sierra during the fieldwork period of this study. I hope that he will love the land and life
ii
of his birthplace, the Bolivian Oriente, as much as I do someday. He is certainly the most beautiful
and most important product of my fieldwork in Bolivia.
I thank my loving and beautiful wife, Susana Ugalde de Langstroth, and Alex and Jacqueline,
for their support, patience, and love throughout the research and writing of the dissertation.
This project would not have been possible without the support of Don Fernando Velasco
Cuéllar of Trinidad, a.k.a. ‘Nano’ and ‘Don Pepa’, owner of La Chacra. I am eternally grateful to
him for his patience, tolerance, and incredible generosity. He has welcomed me and
accommodated my adventures in the Beni from the very start when I was a fifteen-year old
gringuito who didn’t know a motacú from a tatú and who filled his house with frogs, snakes, and
other sundry creatures. Gracias tío. Espero que algún día sepa cuanto lo aprecio.
I also thank my parents-in-law, Fanor Ugalde Villarroel and Shirley Castro de Ugalde, of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra, for their kindness and support during the fieldwork period.
I thank mis padres bolivianos, Ernesto Sanjinés Ossio and Olguita Velasco de Sanjinés of
Trinidad, owners of El Tajibo and El Sol. Olguita is the one responsible for the fact that I ever
heard of the Beni and the Llanos de Moxos. She brought me to the Beni in 1979 and introduced
me to new world and a new life. Thank you both for making me a better human being and sharing
with me the most marvelous place I have yet known.
I thank Erland, Tina, Romualdo, Jesús, Chinda, Ricardo I, Ricardo II, Armando, Mario, Pacho,
and all the other folks at and around La Chacra for their assistance, knowledge, and friendship.
Special thanks to Micky and Titín, for the comic relief. May you all be blessed with long lives in
the campo and freedom from the evils of the city!
I thank Kenneth Lee, a great investigator and pioneer of Moxos earthworks studies, for the vast
quanity of knowledge and thoughts which he attempted to impart upon me.
I thank Teresa de Centurión, Tim Killeen, Marisol Toledo, Mario Saldías, Israel Vargas, and
everyone else at the Herbario Regional del Oriente Boliviano (USZ) for their support and
assistance with my plant materials.
I thank George Plafker of the USGS in Menlo Park, CA, for generously donating his collection
of air photos and maps of Moxos region.
I thank the other members of my dissertation committee, Tom Vale, Vance Holliday, Karl
Zimmerer, and Tom Givnish for their insight, criticisms, and advice.
Last, but not least, I thank my Doktorfatter (mentor, major professor and dissertation committee
chair) William M. Denevan for his fantastic patience, support, and advice.
This research was funded by National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Award SBR-
9305629 to William M. Denevan, P.I and Robert P. Langstroth, Co-P.I.
iii
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................................................................................I
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................................................... III
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................................................................IX
PREFACE........................................................................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................3
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MY RESEARCH ...............................................................................................................................3
MOXOS AS A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE.....................................................................................................................................5
DEFINITIONS................................................................................................................................................................................6
ORGANIZATION OF THE DISSERTATION ..............................................................................................................................10
OBJECTIVES................................................................................................................................................................................10
METHODS...................................................................................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2. THE “SAVANNA PROBLEM” .....................................................................................................................14
REVIEW OF SAVANNA DETERMINANTS................................................................................................................................14
FOREST ISLANDS....................................................................................................................................................................... 20
ALLEGED ORIGINS OF NEOTROPICAL FOREST ISLANDS....................................................................................................21
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 3. LOCATION AND PHYSICAL SETTING OF LA CHACRA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.........29
GEOLOGY OF SOUTHWESTERN AMAZONIA ........................................................................................................................29
HYDROLOGY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF THE BOLIVIAN AMAZON ....................................................................................34
CLIMATE OF THE LLANOS DE MOXOS..................................................................................................................................40
QUATERNARY CLIMATE CHANGE IN CENTRAL SOUTH AMERICA .................................................................................41
SOILS OF THE LLANOS DE MOXOS.........................................................................................................................................43
CHAPTER 4. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF MOXOS AND THE LA CHACRA REGION .......44
ARCHAEOLOGY .........................................................................................................................................................................44
CULTURAL GROUPS AT THE TIME OF JESUIT CONTACT (1680S)....................................................................................46
EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT OF THE REGION OF LA CHACRA .............................................................................................46
INTRODUCTION OF LIVESTOCK TO THE MOXOS SAVANNAS............................................................................................47
LA CHACRA RANCH..................................................................................................................................................................48
ESTABLISHMENT OF MODERN VILLAGES (CASARABE, SOMOPAE, ELVIRA, ETC.)........................................................49
THE TRINIDAD-SANTA CRUZ HIGHWAY..............................................................................................................................49
CHAPTER 5. OVERVIEW OF VEGETATION UNITS AND ISLAND TYPES AT LA CHACRA.......................51
LOCAL LANDSCAPE UNITS......................................................................................................................................................51
ISLAND AND MOUND TYPES IN THE VICINITY OF LA CHACRA....................................................................................... 51
CHAPTER 6. TOPOGRAPHIC TRANSECTS.....................................................................................................................58
TRANSECT 1. GALLERY FORESTS-CERAMIC FOREST -CAÑADA ........................................................................................58
TRANSECT 2. SEMIALTURA-ISLA LOMA VERDE-ISLA 2..................................................................................................... 60
TRANSECT 4. MORE CERAMIC FOREST POINTS.................................................................................................................. 64
TRANSECT 5. ISLA 1-ISLA 2......................................................................................................................................................67
TRANSECT 6. THE BIG ISLA ..................................................................................................................................................... 69
TRANSECT 7. SEMIALTURA WOODLAND - GALLERY FOREST .........................................................................................70
TRANSECT 8. BAJÍO-CAÑADA WEST .....................................................................................................................................72
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TRANSECT 9. ANADENANTHERA GALLERY FOREST .........................................................................................................74
CHAPTER 7. FOREST ISLANDS OF THE BAJÍO AND SEMIALTURA SAVANNAS..........................................76
ALTURA ISLANDS IN SEASONAL WETLANDS......................................................................................................................76
SEMIALTURA ISLANDS.............................................................................................................................................................83
ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS IN THE SEASONAL WETLAND .........................................................................................................85
CHAPTER 8. GALLERY FOREST SEGMENTS ALONG THE CAÑADA DE LOS LAGARTOS........................87
FLOODED FORESTS...................................................................................................................................................................89
LOMAS.........................................................................................................................................................................................89
GALLERY FOREST VEGETATION PLOTS...............................................................................................................................92
OTHER GALLERY FORESTS AT LA CHACRA.........................................................................................................................95
CHAPTER 9. WOODLAND, SAVANNA, AND WETLAND FORMATIONS............................................................97
CORDIA-TABEBUIA WOODLAND........................................................................................................................................... 97
SEMIALTURA PALMAR............................................................................................................................................................97
SAVANNAS................................................................................................................................................................................101
WETLANDS..............................................................................................................................................................................103
CHAPTER 10. ABIOTIC AND BIOGEOMORPHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF FOREST ISLAND
DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION AT LA CHACRA .........................................................................................107
TOPOGRAPHY AND VEGETATION RELATIONSHIPS IN NEOTROPICAL SAVANNAS....................................................107
SOIL MOISTURE ......................................................................................................................................................................107
RELIEF AND DRAINAGE .........................................................................................................................................................108
FLUVIAL HISTORY..................................................................................................................................................................108
FATES OF ABANDONED FLUVIAL LANDSCAPE FEATURES.............................................................................................110
HYDROLOGY AND OVERLAND FLOWS AT LA CHACRA ...................................................................................................111
BIOGEOMORPHOLOGY ...........................................................................................................................................................112
SOILS AND PEDOGENIC PROCESSES...................................................................................................................................... 116
CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................................................................123
CHAPTER 11. PROCESSES OF WOODY PLANT DEVELOPMENT AND FOREST ISLAND ECOLOGY .125
DISPERSAL MODES OF THE WOODY PLANTS OF LA CHACRA........................................................................................125
BALANCE BETWEEN WIND-DISPERSED AND ANIMAL DISPERSED SPECIES............................................................... 127
REGENERATION NICHES FOR GERMINATION AND ESTABLISHMENT............................................................................127
SITE MODIFICATION BY PLANTS......................................................................................................................................... 128
FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE PLANT-PLANT INTERACTIONS.......................................................................................129
PROCESSES OF FOREST DEGRADATION...............................................................................................................................131
PROCESSES OF WOODY VEGETATION DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................................132
WOODY INVADERS AND ARBORIZATION OF SAVANNAS................................................................................................ 132
CHAPTER 12. PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF THE FLORA OF LA CHACRA.............................................................. 136
ECO-PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF TROPICAL SOUTH AMERICA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO LA CHACRA...136
SOIL NUTRIENT STATUS AND SPECIES ASSEMBLAGES................................................................................................... 143
DECIDUOUS VS. EVERGREEN WOODY PLANTS IN NEOTROPICAL SAVANNAS..............................................................144
CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................................................................145
CHAPTER 13. HUMAN IMPACTS .....................................................................................................................................146
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................................................146
ARCHAEOLOGY OF LA CHACRA AND ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT ....................................................................................146
HISTORICAL HUMAN IMPACTS............................................................................................................................................147
SUMMARY OF RECENT LANDSCAPE CHANGE AT LA CHACRA .......................................................................................148
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................................150
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CHAPTER 14. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES................................................................................................ 151
TYPOLOGY OF FOREST ISLAND AND VEGETATED EARTHMOUND TYPES AT LA CHACRA ......................................151
ORIGINS OF THE FOREST ISLANDS AT LA CHACRA........................................................................................................... 153
TOWARD A LANDSCAPE HISTORY OF LA CHACRA AND THE LLANOS DE MOXOS:.....................................................158
AN INTEGRATED MODEL OF ISLA DEL BAJÍO DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................158
FINAL WORDS.........................................................................................................................................................................160
GLOSSARY.................................................................................................................................................................................. 162
APPENDIX I. LIST OF PLANT SPECIES IDENTIFIED IN THE REGION OF LA CHACRA .......................168
APPENDIX II. PLANT CODES USED IN VEGETATION PLOT INVENTORIES ............................................175
APPENDIX III. NOTES ON THE PLANTS OF THE REGION OF CAÑADA DE LOS LAGARTOS............ 177
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE PALMS OF LA CHACRA .....................................................................................................186
APPENDIX IV. ANNOTATED LIST OF THE VERTEBRATES IDENTIFIED AT LA CHACRA AND ITS
VICINITY...................................................................................................................................................................................188
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE PRIMATES OF LA CHACRA ............................................................................................... 194
LITERATURE CITED............................................................................................................................................................196
List of Tables
Table 1. Island and vegetated earthmound types identified at or near La Chacra. 104
Table 2. Topographic Transect 1 -- Gallery forests and Cañada de los Lagartos 119
Table 3. Topographic Transect 2 -- Paddocks - Isla Loma Verde - Isla 2 126
Table 4. Transect 3 -- Loma 1 -Palmar 132
Table 5. Transect 4 -- Ceramic Forest Points 137
Table 6. Topographic Transect 5 -- Isla 1 to Isla 2 142
Table 7. Topographic Transect 6 -- “Big Isla” 147
Table 8. Topographic Transect 7: Japunaqui woodland to gallery forest 153
Table 9. Topographic Transect 8: Bajío - Semialtura - Gallery forest - Cañada 157
Table 10. Topographic Transect 9. Well-drained gallery forest. 162
Table 11. Vegetation plot 5. Isla 2. Attalea-altura-type island of the bajío. 166
Table 12. Isla 2. Soil Pit 1. 169
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Table 13. Isla 5, Soil Pit 1 174
Table 14. Pampa soil 23 m from edge of Isla 6. 175
Table 15. Inventory of all vascular plants on Isla Loma Verde. 177
Table 16. Isla Loma Verde soil profile. 178
Table 17. Vegetation plot 8: Isla Loma Verde. 180
Table 18. Isla 1, Pit 1. Semialtura island with Copernicia palms. 181
Table 19. Vegetation plot 6 -- Isla 1: Semialtura island. 182
Table 20. “Tarumá high ground” site profile. 184
Table 21. Gallery forest pit 1: Attalea grove (motacuzal) 188
Table 22. Gallery forest pit 2: 10.6 m from edge of semialtura woodland savanna 188
Table 23. Pit at foot of north side of Loma 1, West Ceramic Forest. 193
Table 24. Pit near mouth of Trans-Gallery Channel on low mound. 194
Table 25. Vegetation plot 3. Non-ceramic gallery forest 197
Table 26. Vegetation plot 1. Artificial platform with scattered ceramics. 199
Table 27. “House Isla” profile. 202
Table 28. Vegetation plot 4. “House Isla” modern gallery forest fragment. 203
Table 29. Vegetation plot 9 -- Semialtura woodland. 209
Table 30. Vegetation plot 2. Copernicia palm savanna. 212
Table 31. Semialtura palmar profile. Copernicia alba savanna. (Map 6) 214
Table 32. Vegetation plot 7 -- Termite mound savanna. 219
Table 33. Bajío-pampa wetland profile. 222
Table 34. Summary of soil characteristics for landscape units of La Chacra. 255
Table 35. Particle size data for samples from representative sites. 257
Table 36. Summary of island types and other vegetation units at La Chacra. 315
vii
Table 37. Summary of conclusions on the role of proposed island-forming models. 320
List of Figures
Figure 1. Gallery forest fragments along palaeofluvial system. 7
Figure 2. Mean monthly precipitation at Trinidad. 82
Figure 3. Topographic transect 1. Gallery forest-Ceramic Forest. 116
Figure 4. Topographic transect 2. Semialtura-Islas. 123
Figure 5. Topographic transect 3. Loma 1-Canals-Palmar. 130
Figure 6. Topographic transect 4. Additional Ceramic Forest points. 136
Figure 7. Topographic transect 5. Isla 1-Isla 2. 140
Figure 8. Topographic transect 6. “Big Isla.” 146
Figure 9. Topographic transect 7. Semialtura woodland-Gallery forest. 152
Figure 10. Topographic transect 8. Bajío-Gallery forest-Cañada. 155
Figure 11. Topographic transect 9. Semialtura-Dry gallery forest-Cañada. 161
Figure 12. Islas of the bajío superimposed upon gallery forest of the Cañada
de los Lagartos. 323
List of Maps
Map 1. Sub-basins of the Bolivian Amazon. 420
Map 2. Central Moxos region. 421
Map 3. La Chacra and the Cañada de los Lagartos. 422
Map 4. Locations of the topographic transects. 423
Map 5. Locations of the vegetation plots. 424
Map 6. Locations of the particle size analysis soil sites. 425
viii
List of Plates
Plate 1. Islas 2 and 3 in the bajío wetland of La Chacra (wet season). 426
Plate 2. Isla 2, close-up (dry season). 427
Plate 3. Islas 4 and 4a (dry season). 428
Plate 4. Isla Loma Verde (dry season). 429
Plate 5. Isla Loma Verde, close-up (dry season). 430
Plate 6. Pre-Hispanic canal and gallery forest north of the cañada (wet season). 431
Plate 7. Termite mound islet on semialtura (dry season). 432
Plate 8. Forest nucleus with Attalea palms on semialtura (wet season). 433
Plate 9. Young semialtura woodland (wet season). 434
ix
Abstract
FOREST ISLANDS IN AN AMAZONIAN SAVANNA OF NORTHEASTERN
BOLIVIA
Roberto Langstroth P.,
under the supervision of Professor Emeritus William M. Denevan
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Amazonian lowlands of Bolivia are characterized by extensive areas of seasonally
inundated savannas. These open landscapes are traversed by numerous rivers bordered by dense
gallery forest on their natural levees. Within the savannas themselves, numerous forest islands dot
the horizon. The objective of my research was to explain the origins of the forest islands in a
selected area of the Bolivian Amazon. To achieve this goal, I engaged in an 11-month field project
in 1993-94. My study area is the 2000-ha La Chacra ranch, 22 km east of the city of Trinidad. The
fieldwork was funded by NSF Award SBR-9305629.
Research in Bolivia and other inundated savanna landscapes has suggested numerous factors
which may lead to the formation of forest islands, including insect moundbuilding, natural
fragmentation of levee forests, savanna colonization by forest species, afforestation of
archaeological earthmounds, and anthropogenic fragmentation. I sampled and analyzed the
vegetation, geomorphology, and soils of the forest islands and other landscape elements at La
Chacra.
I describe the variety of forest island types present at La Chacra. These include higher loamy
islands dominated by Attalea palms, low clayey islands with Copernicia palms, forest nuclei in the
savannas, murundu-type islands formed by termites, pre-Hispanic artificial earthmounds, and gallery
forest fragments created by recent human activity. The gallery forests on the levees of the
senescent river (the Cañada de los Lagartos) revealed several major archaeological earthworks and
abundant horizons of ceramics.
I conclude that the primary mode of island formation at La Chacra is the fragmentation and
erosion of ancient natural levees. These islands are characterized by Attalea and have coarser soils
than those of the wetlands. Other natural processes such as termite mound formation and tree
grove establishment are common on the drier savanna, but do not create large forest islands.
Midway between the pre-Hispanic gallery forest villages and the Attalea-type islands, lies an
artificial island bedecked with largely deciduous trees. This mound was constructed by prehistoric
Indians from the clayey subsoil of the adjacent wetland. Modern human activity has led to only
limited instances of forest fragmentation into forest islands at La Chacra.
1
Preface
The following document is the result of 16 years of fascination with the land and life of the
Amazonian plains of northern Bolivia. As I write these words, over half of my life has been spent
in the pursuit of knowledge about the organisms and landscapes of the often flooded, often dusty,
and almost always cattle-trodden, lands of the Department of the Beni.
I that knew that I wanted to work on El Beni1 when I was 15 years old and made my first
collection of the frogs and toads I encountered under palm logs, in swamps, and on the streets of
Trinidad. I later read a book by a geographer named Denevan and learned to call this savanna-
dominated region the Llanos de Moxos. This book was the only one in any language that dealt with
the geography of the region; however, I clearly remember thinking “what a shame Denevan’s a
geographer, not a soils scientist or ecologist”!
The trick was settling in to an academic discipline and a developing a honed-down research
topic. My fascination with the Moxos cattle ranching life led me to enroll as an Animal Science
major at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, with the aspiration of becoming a veterinarian. However, my
life-long interest in wild creatures soon persuaded me to change majors to the field of
Environmental and Systematic Biology. Here I found that I had a knack for plants, not just creepy-
crawlies. My craving for Botany eventually led me to the University of California-Davis. I never
enrolled in Botany. Instead, I found a field that combined plants and cattle culture: Range and
Wildlands Science. I eventually completed a B.S. and a M.S. in this field. At Davis, I finally
“discovered” geography in a plant geography seminar led by Conrad J. Bahre.
I was encouraged by Bahre to pursue a Ph. D. in geography under Denevan. I thought it would
be a good idea and began to take as many geography courses as I could fit into my schedule. I
wrote Denevan a simple letter asking if he was still interested in savanna ecology and the Llanos
de Moxos. He responded with an even simpler response: “Yes!” That was how it all began.
I came to Madison in 1990 and soon received a Latin American and Iberian Studies Program
Short-term Research Grant for eight weeks of exploratory work in the Llanos de Moxos. Thus, I
went to the Beni in 1991 to examine the relationships between vegetation and causeways.
However, I was more impressed with the dynamic fluvial geomorphology along the Maniqui River
at the edge the Beni Biosphere Reserve, where I strengthened my conviction that all so-called
flood savannas were inherently dynamic landscapes.
I did not stop to examine any forest islands during this tour; however, I did take quite a few
slides of termite mound islets. I also learned that the curichi2 at El Sol (the ranch immediately west
of La Chacra) was actually a long, weakly meandering palaeochannel, when I looked at an airphoto
at the owner’s home in Trinidad. Later I would learn that the curichi is really a cañada3 around which
much of my future would revolve.
It was on January 9th, 1992 that I “saw the light” and chose forest islands as my objects of
focus. I was in the office of my thesis adviser, William M. Denevan, discussing a seminar paper I
had written on fluvial geomorphology and vegetation in the southwestern Amazon basin. He had
written a comment about whether or not one could distinguish between natural and artificial forest
1 The name generally used to refer to the Departamento del Beni. Departamentos are the first-order political divisions of the
Republic of Bolivia.
2 A general term for any localized wetland or swampy spot in the landscape. Also curiche.
3 A semi-permanent wetland occupying a palaeochannel scar or recently senesced river channel.
2
islands from air photos. I told him that that was “a good question.” It then dawned upon me with
an unusual sense of clarity that this was going to be the theme of my dissertation. I rushed out and
purchased a new composition book, sat down somewhere, and began to write down my
brainstorm. “The Islas of the Llanos de Moxos: Origins, Classification, and Geo-ecological Role”
was at the head of the first page (actually it was “Las Islas de los Llanos de Moxos: Orígenes,
Clasificación y Papel Geo-ecológico”).
Carl Troll (1936) believed (his italics) that “one of the fundamental questions for the ecological
understanding of savannas is that of which factors, in particular, determine the existence and absence of trees and
forest islands.”4 I also believe that this is true. Thus, at least in the perspective of the founder of
landscape ecology and an under-appreciated savanna geographer, forest islands are clearly
important elements for understanding savanna landscapes.
At the time I decided to study forest islands, I had never really examined one up close. I still
have a vague memory of visiting La Isla de los Lobos5 at El Tajibo6 when I was 15 years old (see
Map 2). This isla was a mysterious place, far off across a swampy pampa7. I remember vaguely that
it was high ground and, perhaps erroneously, that there was a pool of water in the center. I do
remember more clearly something about eating oranges there. Now La Isla de Los Lobos is only a
few hundred meters away from the Trinidad-Santa Cruz highway. I remember very well entering
another isla just north of the house at El Tajibo. It was another world in that isla. It looked like a
“real jungle” in there. It was shady and moist; the ground was covered with greenery and the soil
was dark and organic rich. Here I saw my first wild primates, a trio of owl monkeys up in a motacú
palm8. On the ground we recovered the skull of a sloth. I remember searching the branches and
twigs around the perimeter of the isla for Anolis lizards. Now this island is in direct contact with
the highway right of way.
By the end of 1992, I had submitted my NSF Doctoral Dissertation Award proposal. On the
last day of June 1993, my wife Susy, daughter Jacqui, and I were off to Bolivia, without knowing
whether or not I would actually receive funding.
On August 2, 1993, Bill Denevan walked onto the tarmac at Aeropuerto Jorge Henrich Arauz
on the outskirts of Trinidad. He was returning to Moxos after more than three decades since his
dissertation fieldwork. It was only then that he told me that NSF had decided to grant me the
Dissertation Improvement Award. I had already chosen La Chacra as my study site.
4 All translations are my own, unless otherwise noted.
5 The “Island of the Wolves.”
6 Ranch owned by Ernesto Sanjinés and Olga Velasco de Sanjinés, 13 km E of Trinidad.
7 Pampa is the term used in eastern Bolivia to denote a grassland, wetland, or savanna. The word sabana is not used in
Bolivia. Pampa is in fact a word of Quechuan origin and denotes any flat, open landscape.
8 Attalea phalerata Mart. ex Spreng.