BackgroundThe threats facing Ecuador's Yasuní National Park are emblematic of those confronting the greater western Amazon, one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas. Notably, the country's second largest untapped oil reserves—called “ITT”—lie beneath an intact, remote section of the park. The conservation significance of Yasuní may weigh heavily in upcoming state-level and international decisions, including whether to develop the oil or invest in alternatives.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe conducted the first comprehensive synthesis of biodiversity data for Yasuní. Mapping amphibian, bird, mammal, and plant distributions, we found eastern Ecuador and northern Peru to be the only regions in South America where species richness centers for all four taxonomic groups overlap. This quadruple richness center has only one viable strict protected area (IUCN levels I–IV): Yasuní. The park covers just 14% of the quadruple richness center's area, whereas active or proposed oil concessions cover 79%. Using field inventory data, we compared Yasuní's local (alpha) and landscape (gamma) diversity to other sites, in the western Amazon and globally. These analyses further suggest that Yasuní is among the most biodiverse places on Earth, with apparent world richness records for amphibians, reptiles, bats, and trees. Yasuní also protects a considerable number of threatened species and regional endemics.Conclusions/SignificanceYasuní has outstanding global conservation significance due to its extraordinary biodiversity and potential to sustain this biodiversity in the long term because of its 1) large size and wilderness character, 2) intact large-vertebrate assemblage, 3) IUCN level-II protection status in a region lacking other strict protected areas, and 4) likelihood of maintaining wet, rainforest conditions while anticipated climate change-induced drought intensifies in the eastern Amazon. However, further oil development in Yasuní jeopardizes its conservation values. These findings form the scientific basis for policy recommendations, including stopping any new oil activities and road construction in Yasuní and creating areas off-limits to large-scale development in adjacent northern Peru.

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Tropical forest canopies are among the most species-rich terrestrial habitats on earth and one of the remaining relatively unexplored biotic frontiers. Epiphytic bromeliads provide microhabitat for a high diversity of organisms in tropical forest canopies and are considered a keystone resource. A number of amphibians inhabit these phytotelmata, yet their ecological role and status in forest canopies remains unknown. For this study, anurans were collected from an upper canopy tank bromeliad (Aechmea zebrina) at ∼20–45 m (x¯ = 33 m) above the forest floor. Bromeliads were sampled from trees located near trails in undisturbed primary rainforest and oil access roads in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve of Amazonian Ecuador. We collected 95 anurans representing 10 species from 160 bromeliads in 32 trees. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the effects of disturbance and habitat factors on the occupancy and abundance of anurans collected. Bromeliads in forest along oil roads had a lower occupancy and abundance of anurans than those in undisturbed forest, a somewhat unexpected result due to the intactness and quality of forest adjacent to the roads. Recorded habitat variables had no relationship with occupancy or abundance of anurans, and did not differ significantly between treatments. Our findings reveal that even the minimal footprint of natural resource extraction operations, primarily roads, in rainforest environments can have significant negative impacts on the unique upper canopy anuran community. Based on these results, we recommend that natural resource development treat rainforest habitat as an offshore system where roads are not used, employ industry best practice guidelines, and current access roads be protected from colonization and further deforestation.

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Reproductive ecology and behavior of Eleutherodactylus aureolineatus (Anura, Brachycephalidae) in the canopy of the Upper Amazon Basin, Ecuador. Exploration and investigation of the anuran fauna in the canopies of the Upper Amazon Basin has led to the recent discoveries of new species of the genus Eleutherodactylus utilizing the microhabitat within bromeliads. Detailed information on the ecology and natural history of these communities are scarce due, in part, to the difficulty of accessing their habitat. New sampling methods for rainforest canopies have allowed for the collection and observation of the herpetofauna utilizing this habitat. Sexual size dimorphism in Eleutherodactylus aureolineatus, confirms placement in the E. unistrigatus species group and E. lacrimosus assemblage. The described microhabitat, vocalization characteristics, reproductive behavior and egg deposition of E. aureolineatus provides significant ecological background on this poorly documented group of frogs and their important "wetlands in the sky". The data and observations herein contribute to the overall understanding of the characters and ecological factors which define the E. lacrimosus assemblage. ResumenEcología y comportamiento reproductivo de Eleutherodactylus aureolineatus (Anura, Brachycephalidae) del dosel de la cuenca del Amazonas Superior, Ecuador. La exploración y la investigación de la fauna de anuros en el estrato del dosel de la cuenca del Amazonas Superior ha llevado a descubrimientos recientes de nuevas especies del genero Eleutherodactylus que utilizan el interior de las bromelidas como micro-hábitat. La información detallada en la ecología y la historia natural de estas comunidades es escasa debido en parte a la dificultad de acceso de su hábitat. Nuevos métodos de muestreo para doseles de selvas pluviales han tomado en cuenta