The Alpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, Peru, was created in 1999 to preserve the extremely rare white sand forest ecosystem, and the endemic species that exist only in this habitat. In addition to the rare white sand forest, the reserve includes terra firme rainforest, swamp forests and seasonally inundated rainforests. Each of these distinct habitats supports a unique community of plants and animals, the end result being that Alpahuayo-Mishana contains one of the highest biodiversities known in the Amazon basin.
This reserve protects the largest block of white sand forest in the country, and the only one that enjoys legal protection. The white sand forests account for only a tiny fraction of the Amazonian land mass, and are among the oldest tropical forests in the New World, in some places estimated to be 14 million years old. This forest is characterized by extremely poor nutrient content, as high sand content in the soil attributes to higher degree of drainage and nutrient leaching. The forests formed on those soils are often fairly open and lower in stature (compared with nearby terra firme forests), and are almost useless for agriculture.
The reserve has extremely high conservation importance. Overall, the species counts from Alpahuayo-Mishana rank among the world´s highest: 71 species of amphibians, 480 species of birds, and close to 2,000 species of plants have been recorded. Several of these species are white sand specialists and exceedingly rare, due to the scarcity of white sand forests. In the last decade more than 5 new species of birds, all restricted to white sand forests, have been discovered in the reserve by Jose (Pepe) Alvarez in collaboration with Bret Whitney and others at Louisiana State University. Overall, about a dozen bird species have been found to be associated with white sand forests in this area, and for several of them, the white sand forests near Iquitos are their only known distribution in the world or in Peru.
The reserve is especially important for species conservation. The entire know range of the endangered Iquitos Gnatcatcher (Polioptila clementsi) is found in the reserve, which is also only protected area for several other very rare and range-restricted species, the Ancient Antwren (Herpsilochmus gentryi) named after Al Gentry, and Alpahuayo Antbird (Percnostola arenarum) and Mishana Tyrannulet (Zimmerius villarejoi). There is also possibly a new species of Amazilia hummingbird and Leucopternis hawk, which could be named for a major donor. The reserve also has many interesting mammals, including three species of endangered primates. For two of these, the Yellow-handed Titi-Monkey (Callicebus (torquatus) lucifer) and Equatorial Saki (Pithecia aequatorialis), Alpahuayo-Mishana is the only place where these monkeys habitat is officially protected in Peru.
Because the Reserve is so close to the city of Iquitos, it is subject to increasing pressure from colonization and habitat degradation. However, white sand forests are extremely fragile and are in no way suitable for agriculture. the recent construction of a paved highway. Although there are open lands available that are more suitable for agriculture, they are further away from the city. There are six traditional communities that reside within the borders of the reserve, and these people support the reserve.
