A new study examines the impacts of invasive feral pigs, a favorite prey of vampire bats, on ecosystems in rural Brazil. The distribution of feral pigs — which are also known as wild boars, or “javali” in Portuguese, and are actually the same species as the domestic pig (Sus scrofa) — has increased five-fold since they were first recorded in Brazil in 2007.A group of Brazilian researchers found that not only might populations of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) explode as a result of this invasion of feral pigs, but associated threats, such as the spread of infectious diseases, could increase as well. The results of their study were published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment earlier this month.

Scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), the Nature Conservancy, and several partners in Brazil and Peru have produced a geographic information system (GIS) “roadmap” to help guide conservation efforts at large scale in the Amazon River basin, a region roughly the size of the United States.

The new spatial framework—created with several major data sets and GIS technology—is made up of a new hydrological and river basin classification, along with various spatial analysis tools, that can be used to better understand and mitigate the synergistic effects of deforestation and new or planned highways and dams across the Amazon Basin.