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Simple unifying explanations of Amazonian species diversity, such as stability begets diversity, or that allopatric speciation took place in glacial-age refugia, have fallen by the wayside. In their place a more complex story is unfolding. This new narrative spans millions of years, involves Earth's wobbling orbit about the sun and thrusting plates, but ultimately simplifies to the existence and persistence of niche space. The refugial hypothesis invoked Amazonian aridity to explain speciation patterns in birds, but molecular studies have shown that bird speciation does not conform to refugial expectations spatially or temporally. Ribas and others revisit the phylogeny of Pionopsitta parrots and, in so doing, illustrate at least three major problems with the refugial hypothesis.

The article reports on the plan of ecologists move against export of Argentinian parrots. An application from Argentina to export parrots as pets to the U.S. has annoyed ecologists, some of whom say it would deplete populations in the wild. If the application is accepted, Argentina will become the first country to export wild birds for the US pet trade since a tough law on imports was enacted in 1992 to prevent species being wiped out by commercial trappers. Government biologists in Argentina have fashioned a sustainable-use management plan that they say will allow limited collecting of the blue-fronted Amazon parrot, Amazona aestiva with part of the money from sales going towards maintaining the parrots' threatened forest habitat.

Features the collection Amazon parrots and butterflies at the Morne Diablotin National Park in the Caribbean island of Dominica. Details on the foundation of the park; Organizations involved in the construction of Morne Diablotin.

Discusses the need to protect the Grand Cayman amazon parrots. Parrots considered by farmers as agricultural pests; Caymanians consideration that they have the right to keep the parrots as pets.

The Yellow-shouldered Amazon (Amazona barbadensis) is one of the most endangered species of parrots in Venezuela. An integrated conservation program has focused on reversing the causes of parrot population decline on the Macanao Peninsula in Margarita Island. As a result, the parrot population on the island has increased to about 1900 individuals in 1996 from an estimated population of 750 in 1989, when the project started. Cooperation from national and local authorities and the project’s community outreach have resulted in several confiscated chicks. Whereas most confiscated chicks were successfully reintroduced in a cross-fostering nest program, some had to be kept in captivity for later release. We hand-reared 14 A. barbadensis and housed them for a year in a large outdoor aviary. Before release the birds were screened to determine their general health. Four parrots were fitted with radio transmitters and monitored for a minimum of 11 months. All 4 birds with radio transmitters survived and adapted successfully to their natural environment, 10 of the 12 released parrots survived at least 1 year, and 1 was seen alive 34 months after release. Integration into wild groups varied from 5 days to 9 months, with the two youngest parrots showing a slower integration process. None of the parrots reproduced the first year after release. Later three were seen scouting nesting holes with their partners, and one of the parrots was confirmed attending a nest with three eggs 28 months after release. Two chicks fledged from this nest. A substantial portion of the success of this program rests on 5 years of previous work on environmental education, public awareness, and studies on the parrot’s biology. To provide some guidance on the costs of reintroduction projects, we estimated an overall expenditure of about U.S. $2800 per parrot. Previous attempts to reintroduce captive-raised parrots have had limited success, and our study indicates that reintroduction is feasible when captive-raised parrots are introduced to an area with a resident population. Although reintroduction can significantly reduce the chances of extinction, it also involves some risks. The long-term solution against extinction of A. barbadensis will be a combination of scientific understanding of their biology and habitat, awareness by local human communities, reduction in the wild bird trade, and continued commitment by conservation enforcement agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]