Scott
Schaefer's Fieldwork in Venezuela - SAS91
The 1991 Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and Museo de Biología,
Universidade Central de Venezuela expedition was the
second of two expeditions to Venezuela funded by a grant
to Scott Schaefer from the Eppley Foundation for
Research. The personnel consisted of S. Schaefer and W.
Saul of ANSP, and F. Provenzano from MBUCV in Caracas.
The purpose of this expedition was survey of the fishes
of the Río Cuyuní, the major drainage basin of the Guyana
Shield region of eastern Venezuela and a major tributary
of the Essequibo River to the east. Prior to this
expedition, fishes of the Cuyuní were not well
represented in museum collections in Venezuela or the
U.S. (Francisco Mago and colleagues from UCV had
collected in the vicinity of Tumeremo and El Dorado).
Logistic assistance was provided by Tecmin C.A., a
subsidiary of Petroven, the Venezuelan national mining
and petroleum company. Although portions of the eastern
Cuyuní basin remain heavily forested and relatively
undisturbed, the southern tributaries have been severely
impacted by gold mining, a situation evident to us by the
lower than expected diversity and abundances of the
fishes in several streams (e.g., Río Supamo).
SAS91 Localities and
Specimens
SAS91 Photo
Gallery
