This report contains the findings from a rapid biological assessment of the Grensgebergte and Kasikasima mountains of southeastern Suriname. Suriname is one of the last places on Earth where an opportunity still exists to conserve huge tracts of pristine, diverse tropical forests. This volume is part of a series of surveys in Suriname designed to support the protection of biodiversity and freshwater and other ecosystem services through collection of baseline biological and socioeconomic data. The researchers in southeastern Suriname investigated plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, and water quality. Over one hundred new species were discovered, including fish, beetles, and katydids.

This report contains the findings from a rapid biological assessment of the Kwamalasamutu region of southwestern Suriname. Focusing on the plant and animal species important to the indigenous Trio people, this survey establishes baseline information on the region's biodiversity and ecosystem health in order to better inform ecotourism and monitoring efforts. The RAP team found the Kwamalasamutu region to harbor rich biodiversity, with few signs of ecosystem degradation, and at least forty-six of the species identified in this volume are new to science. Further conservation and management recommendations are provided.

Over the past half century, slash-and-burn rice farming on Madagascar has slowly expanded from the coastal lowlands into the dense tropical forests of the island's central plateau - many of which are officially protected reserves. This rapid assessment focuses on the Reserve Naturelle Integrale of d'Ankarafantsika, in the northern portion of the island. The area is filled with diverse endemic species but is increasingly threatened by local agricultural methods, and this assessment is critical to the process of evaluating risks and developing sound conservation policies for the future.

The Konashen Community Owned Conservation Area (COCA)--a stretch of 625,000 hectares of forest in the southern region of Guyana--is relatively unexplored and considered to be one of the last large intact areas of tropical wilderness remaining in Guyana. The data collected during a rapid assessment survey, summarized in this volume, indicate that the forests of the Konashen COCA--maintained primarily by members of the Wai Wai indigenous group--are in very good condition and support rich biodiversity. The assessment team recorded twelve species that are likely new to science as well as more than sixty species found for the first time in Guyana and a number of threatened and endemic species.

This report presents the findings of a 2003 biological expedition to a remote, little-explored area of the Venezuelan Amazon at the confluence of the Orinoco and Ventuari Rivers. The survey, conducted by the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, discovered extremely high levels of biodiversity, with more than 350 species of plants and 245 species of fishes. It also found alarming threats from illegal mining and environmental degradation.

The Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) surveys have been a highly effective conservation tool for Conservation International and a multitude of partners. RAP surveys provide a quick assessment of the biological value of an area and identify species in need of conservation action. This exciting book outlines the inception, history, and achievements of this program during its first two decades, 1990-2010. The editors profile nearly eighty expeditions to some of the most remote but highly threatened sites around the world and relay personal stories from the field. Illustrated with hundreds of photos taken during the RAP surveys, this book includes the first photos of many newly discovered species of animals and plants, and other rarely photographed jewels of terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity.