Mammals, Birds, and Parasites Over an Elevational Gradient in Southeastern Peru

Previous surveys of Manu's biodiversity documented 190 species of mammals (Pacheco et al., 1993) and 901 species of birds (Fitzpatrick et al., unpubl.). Despite these impressive totals, the lists remained obviously incomplete. To more fully document and understand the remarkable diversity found on the Eastern Versant of the Andes, we undertook additional expeditions to Manu with the following objectives:

	to more completely inventory the mammals, birds, and parasites in the reserve, providing reserve manager's with a biodiversity baseline;
	to document and describe new species, range extensions, and new ecological information;
	to obtain biological samples for systematic, biogeographic, genetic, and ecological analyses of vertebrates and their arthropod parasites;
	to organize collection information into web-accessible databases; and
	to provide training for U.S. and Peruvian students and enhance resources for biodiversity studies worldwide.

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