An emergent Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra) catches the late afternoon sunlight in this drone image over the Tiputini River in Yasuní National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Park, Ecuador, upper Amazon basin. Sandy beaches are suitable nesting habitat for the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis spp.). Photographed with the express written permission of the superinendent of Parque Nacional Yasuní .

A lowland Quichua boy rests inside the buttress roots of a giant "Chuncho" tree (Cedrelinga cataeniformes). He's contemplating an upcoming community "minga" or work party. The 120-foot tree was scheduled for a shamanic ceremony after which it would be cut and crafted into a dugout canoe using only traditional methods.After I made this image, the workers determined that the tree was rooted inside the neighboring community's land. "Amazon Headwaters" will revisit this community as they enjoy the cultural event of making another dugout canoe. The canoe will be carved by hand, dried over bonfires of native palms (choosing species for their specific heat) and launched to great fanfare.

Large vines like this one are the super-highways of the rainforest understory, carrying small mammals and other fauna between the canopy and the forest floor. This is a monkey ladder vine (Bauhinia sp.). in lowland rainforest of Ecuador.

A lowland Quichua (Napo Runa) boy takes a rest between play sessions on the Tena river with his friends. The paw-like carving is a pre-Incan petroglyph. The spots on the boys skin are a common and harmless fungus which grows on the skin. Near Muyuna, Ecuador, upper Amazon basin. Bruce Farnsworth is working with a lowland Quichua man trained in archeology to catalogue these sites. Cultural resources such as these - which frequently occur in or near streambeds in the upper Napo river basin - must be included in regional planning for development impacting watershed.

Indigenous lowland Quichua Fausto Grefa, the photographer's friend and one of the best "motoristas" or canoe pilots in the region, is seen line fishing from a tradtional dugout canoe. The catch is a 40-pound Pacu (Colossoma bidens) which is an herbivore. Considerably smaller individuals can be seen where aquarium fish are sold. Rio Panayacu, Amazonian Ecuador

Two lowland Quichua men in a traditional dugout canoe ply the Arajuno River in the upper Napo river valley of Amazonian Ecuador. The Napo river is one of two major tributaries of the Amazon river. The Amazon river begins some 600 miles downstream from this scene. Large canopy-piercing trees such as the Ceibo (Ceiba pentandra) the “Chuncho” (Cedrelinga cataeniformes) and the mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) dot the forest here, the latter among the most valuable hardwoods in the world. Established lowland Quichua communities harvest trees infrequently and only for necessity. The nearby Jatun Sacha Foundation has partnered with area residents to collect these seeds and cultivate the valuable trees in family nurseries within the rainforest.

Lowland Quichua man casts a hand-woven seine net or "ataraya" (Spanish name) into the Arajuno river. The traditional dugout canoe is carved from the local rainforest hardwood "Canelo" (Nectandra sp.) Essentially, he already knew something tropical biologists found in modern research. Canelo trees uptake silica (which is in solution in the soil) at a much higher rate than most plants. Canoes carved from Canelo last longer, resisting the 300 inches of yearly rainfall in this region. It's also important to note that established lowland Quichua communities favor traditional methods such as the cast-net and single hook lines over dynamite fishing and the recent use of the dangerous pesticide Methavin by colonists and commercial fishermen.These are examples of how traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and practice confirms modern science and sustain healthy river systems. Rio Arajuno, Napo province, Amazonian Ecuador.

Jorge Rivadenyra, elder of the Añangu lowland Quichua community and chief guide for their Napo Wildlife Center ecotourism operation, paddles his dugout canoe back to the tourist lodge one evening.

 Their 82 square-mile communal reserve is a critical part of the Yasuní National Park & UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Amazonian Ecuador. The area was recently found to be the most biologically diverse location in the Amazon basin for mammals, fish and birds. Operating tourism on only a small portion of their reserve, the Añangu community are proactive conservationists. By patrolling land beyond their community, they augment the surveillance of an under-staffed National Park Service. In addition, the Añangu community is the only tourism operation working in Yasuní National Park that has regularly collected tourist entrance permit fees and transferred them to the park service. Laguna Añangucocha, Yasuni National Park and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Napo province, Amazonian Ecuador.

Aerial view of the village plaza of Capirona, now an active community-based ecotourism operation situated in primary rainforest. Where these men now play volleyball, elders once prevented the invasion of oil company helicopters by placing lighted torches all around.Capirona elders decided that tourism should be limited to a supplementary income source to protect their culture from the lure of money and over-visitation. Like other lowland Quichua communities of the region, the residents subsist on hunting, fishing, and farming for such cash crops as coffee, cacao (cocoa), rice and maize as well as fruits and nuts harvested from the rainforest. Capirona has enjoyed collaboration with several organizations in the area of tourism development and small scale agroforestry. Capirona is a model for sustatinable rainforest management in the 21st century.

Leaves of the Tagua palm tree (Phytelephas sp). are split down the shaft to create roofing material. Palm trees, in their many varieties, are among the most economically valuable plants in the world.

An antique ceramic bowl of lowland Quichua origin sits outside a typical raised home. The siding is made of split palm from local rainforest. Community of Sumaco, Napo province, Amazonian Ecuador.

These "Panama" hats are woven by local lowland Quichua women from the fibers of common rainforest plants. The lighter fibers are of the Bird of Paradise plant (Heliconia vellerigera) and the darker fibers are from a bromeliad (Aechmea strobilaceae). Sustainable micro-business can provide alternative sources of income for rural and indigenous communities who are geographically (and politically) isolated from the highly-centralized governments of the Amazonian region, provided they have access to markets. Photographed near Tena, Napo Province, Amazonian Ecuador.

The Rothschild's moth or Saturn Window moth (Rothschildia erycina), with an eight-inch wingspan, is one of the largest moths in the tropics. This one warms up in the early morning understory of the Jatun Sacha Biological Station. The leaf of the sapling on which it rests can be seen through the translucent panels in its wings.

This mixed media piece was created by a young elementary student in Tena, the capital of Ecuador's Napo province. Except for the corn kernels, it's composed entirely of the seeds of common rainforest understory plants. What a wonderful expression of the tremendous biological diversity of the upper Amazon basin! Sustainable micro-economies such as this plant-based art will continue to be opened for poor, rural artists if they are provided with distribution channels to major transportation hubs and tourist centers.

These are the feet of Tigue, an indigenous Huaorani man hired by botanists assigned to a Smithsonian study of tree diversity in Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park. Using a variety of vine (Paulinia sp.) - with the best tensile strength among the dozens of vines around him - he climbs over 100 feet into the rainforest canopy. Tigue and colleagues in his community collect flowers and other voucher specimens for botanists waiting below. In this way, more species can be identified by science and protected. The Huaorani use this technique – borrowed by today’s utility workers - to hunt monkeys and other arboreal rainforest mammals with blowguns. Photographed in Yasuní National Park and UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve, Amazonian Ecuador.

This treefrog (Bufo “margaritifera” complex) has a dorsal surface that blends with the muddy rainforest floor. Photographed on glass, one sees the colorful ventral side of the animal and the suction cup nature of the prehensile toe pads. Photographed in the wild in lowland rainforest near Ahuano, Ecuador.

This glass frog (Cochranella griffithsi) is a new species found in Ecuador. Glass frogs are named for their translucent body. This male guards embryos developing in a gelatinous mass attached to a leaf's "drip tip." Heavy rains will knock the eggs into a stream below where the larva will complete their development. This photograph was made in the wild with a hand-held camera during a steady rain. An assistant held a large umbrella over my camera, strobe, frog and leaves so I could make this image. Photographed in the Otonga Cloud Forest Reserve of the Northwest Andes, Ecuador. Another fine organization involved in scientific research and training youth in citizen science is The Biodiversity Group. They are working with host communities in tropical and subtropical forest in Vietnam, Ecuador and Mexico.

Two passionflower butterflies (Mechanitis menapis mantineus) mating on a leaf in forest near Mindo, Ecuador.

Seeds of the "Tagua" palm (Phytelephas sp.) - also known as "vegetable ivory" - are carved here into the forms of iconic Ecuadorian widlife. They are Ecuador's national bird, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), a rainforest armadillo (Family Dasypodidae) and a Greater flamingo from the Galapagos islands (Phoenicopterus ruber). These animals represent the three major biogeographic regions of Ecuador: coast, Andes and upper Amazon basin.

Subject of the carving in the previous image, a juvenile Nine-banded long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) roots for insects in the leaf litter of the lowland rainforest. Upper Napo river valley, Amazonian Ecuador.

Young lowland Quichua sisters Josefina and Paulina greet me from their living room window on the banks of the Arajuno River while I visit with their father. Upper Napo river valley, Amazonian Ecuador.

This male Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupicola peruviana sanguinolenta) was photographed at 1200 meters elevation in the Mindo cloud forest of Ecuador on the western slopes of the Andes. This is the only area of the world where these birds are colored a brilliant scarlet red. On the eastern side of the Andes and throughout Peru - where it’s the national bird - they are more orange in color. Easily disturbed by human activity, it is difficult to get a look at the crested males who dance in the treetops, performing vigorous displays for onlooking females. Up to a dozen males may gather in a breeding system known as a "lek." If a female arrives, the males perform a dance to impress her. Mindo is situated in the Chocó Endemic Bird Area (EBA) and the Chocó Biogeographic Region, one of the world's richest biogeographical areas. This region supports the highest number of restricted-range birds of any EBA in the Americas at over 50 species.

The White-whiskered puffbird (Malacoptila panamensis chocoana) is known to follow and eat army ants on the forest floor. This individual was photographed during a biological inventory in Ecuador.

Zoomorphic artifact resembling a bird from the Tolita Culture (90BC-270AD) of Western Ecuador. Photographed with special permission from the collection of the Weilbauer Museum, Quito, Ecuador.

A lowland Quichua boy rests on a riverside boulder. The pre-Incan petroglyph is known locally in the local Kichwa (Napo Runa) language as "puma rumi" referring to paw-print motif. Calls for comprehensive management of the myriad rivers in the upper Napo river valley - led by local community leaders - include cultural, ecological and recreational values. The Ecuadorian Rivers Foundation (based in Tena, Ecuador) has projects in hydrologic monitoring, water quality, and community-scale hydropower alternatives.