Research at Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center

The Iracambi Research Center

The Iracambi Rainforest Research and Conservation Center offers researchers the opportunity to carry out their research on real world problems in our living laboratory.

We welcome scientists and students to study alongside our own research team on our research priority areas, which you can see in our Research Portal.

The applied research we do here feeds into the work do to make conservation of the rainforest more attractive than its destruction. We invite researchers interested in tropical forest conservation, land management or related fields to come and join us in our work.

We also welcome researchers who would like to use our facilities to follow their own specific research interests, provided these are consistent with our own.

If you would like to do your research at Iracambi, visit our Researcher page to learn about our research options. You can also download from our pretty cool (we think) Research Brochure.

Iracambi is the only Research Center in Brazil affiliated to the Organization of Biological Field Stations (www.obfs.org).

Where Are We Located?

The Research Center is situated on a working farm in the Atlantic Rainforest zone (Zona da Mata), near the village of Rosário da Limeira (lat. 21º00' S, long. 42º30' W) in the southeast of the state of Minas Gerais, five hours by road from Rio de Janeiro, or four hours from the state capital, Belo Horizonte. (Mapor, on Google Earth, just look for Fazenda Iracambi, Brazil).

The research area covers 200 hectares of rainforest in different stages of regeneration:

partially logged primary forest
secondary forest over 25 years old, regenerated on partially cleared land
recent regrowth of less than 25 years old, regenerated on partially cleared land.

The altitude in the research area ranges from 800-1,500 meters, thus the forest in this area is classified as lower montane. We also have access to a further 13,200 hectares of protected public forest lands, adjacent to Iracambi, situated in the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park.

What Can We Offer You?

Iracambi is equipped to cater for either individuals or\ teams of researchers who are interested in conducting their own research in the area, including logistical support, linguistic skills and full access to the Atlantic Rainforest.

When is the Best Time to Come?

The rainy season spans September - March (the breeding season for insects, birds and mammals). There's also more mud! The dry season runs from April-August (good for some flowering trees). It gets cold then, (as low as 6ºC), so bring a sweater.

More Information and Contact:

If you´d like to be part of our research program, contact us: research@iracambi.com. You can download our Research Information Sheet from here.

We have made up a list of suggested further reading for you, and our links page shows you some places where you can find out more. On our downloads page, there is more information on our projects as well as a list of our research papers. If you have already decided you must come, then there is some useful pre-trip information to help you prepare.

You can also get more information on our organisation or our volunteer program. There are also plenty of other ways to get involved with our program.