Atlantic Forest

Part of Atlantic Forest seen from SPOT satellite

The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese) is a region of tropical and subtropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, tropical savannas, and mangrove forests that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the north to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south, and inland as far as Paraguay and northern Argentina. In northeastern Brazil it occupies a thin coastal strip 40 miles or less wide, while in the south it extends as far as 200 miles inland.

Because of its isolation from the Amazon Basin by a drier region to its west, the Atlantic Forest contains many distinctive plant and animal communities. For example, about 92 percent of the amphibians are found nowhere else.

Many of these endemic organisms persist in patches of forest that are all that remain due to centuries of clearing the forest for agriculture and urban development. Of the more than 386,000 square miles (1 million sq km) of original forest that are believed to have once covered the coast of Brazil, only an estimated 7 percent is intact.

Types of forest

The Atlantic Forest region includes several variations of forests.

• Coastal restingas—low forests growing on stabilized coastal dunes.
• Coastal forests, also known as Atlantic moist forests_evergreen tropical forests with structures.
• Interior (inland) forests, also known as the Atlantic semi-deciduous forests—where many trees drop their leaves during the dry season.
• Atlantic dry forests farther inland—forming a transition between the arid Caatinga to the northeast and the Cerrado savannas to the east.
• Montane moist forests—occur in the Serra do Mar and across the mountains and plateaus of southern Brazil; are home to Araucaria and evergreen trees of the laurel (Lauraceae) and myrtle (Myrtaceae) families.
• Shrubby montane savannas—occur at the highest elevations.

The Atlantic Forest is unusual in that it extends as a true tropical rainforest to latitudes as high as 24°S. This is because the trade winds produce precipitation throughout the southern winter. In fact, the northern Zona da Mata of northeastern Brazil receives much more rainfall between May and August than during the southern summer.

Fauna and flora

Around 2,200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians live in the Atlantic Forest, including nearly 200 bird species found nowhere else. Of the 26 species of small primates, most are only found there. These include the golden-headed lion tamarin (L. chrysomelas), black-faced lion tamarin (L. caissara), black lion tamarin (L. chrysopygus), and the highly endangered golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia).

Other mammal species include the muriqui or woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles arachnoides) and the maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus). Birds include the red-necked tanager (Tangara cyanocephala), the red-billed currasow (Crax blumenbachii), seven-colored tanager (Tanagara fastuosa), blue-bellied parrot (Triclaria malachitacea), and the three-toed jacamar (Jacamaralcyon tridactyla).

Plants of the Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest of Brazil is also home to around 20,000 species of plants, representing 8% of the Earth’s plants. In fact, in the 1990s researchers from the New York Botanical Garden counted 458 tree species in 2.5 acres – more than double the number of tree species in the entire U.S. eastern seaboard. New species of flora and fauna continue to be discovered.

Endangered species

The Atlantic Forest is now designated a World Biosphere Reserve because it contains a large number of highly endangered species, including the well-known marmosets and lion tamarins. It has been extensively cleared since colonial times, mainly for the farming of sugar cane and for urban settlements. What remains is estimated to be around 7 percent of the original and is often broken into hilltop islands.

The Amazon Institute is active in reforestation efforts in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Brazil. During 2007, 5,500 new trees were planted in the mountains, adding to what little remains of the ancient forest.

During glacial periods, however, the Atlantic Forest is known to have shrunk to extremely small refugia in highly sheltered gullies, with most of the land area more recently occupied by the characteristic Atlantic Forest being occupied by dry forest or even semi-desert. Some maps even suggest the forest actually survived in moist pockets well away from the coastline, where its endemic rainforest species mixed with much cooler-climate species. Unlike refugia for equatorial rainforests, the refuges for the Atlantic Forest have never been the product of detailed identification.

Ecoregions

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

• Araucaria moist forests
• Atlantic Coast restingas
• Bahia coastal forests
• Bahia interior forests
• Caatinga enclaves moist forests
• Paraná-Paraíba interior forests
• Pernambuco coastal forests
• Pernambuco interior forests
• Serra do Mar coastal forests

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

• Atlantic dry forests

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

• Campos Rupestres montane savanna

Mangroves

• Bahia mangroves
• Ilha Grande mangroves
• Rio Piranhas mangroves
• Rio São Francisco mangroves

Economy

Logging, agriculture, and the clearing of forests to create pastureland create jobs but also threaten the forest's longevity. In the south, Asian water buffalo are raised on land cleared from the forest. The Nature Conservancy and affiliated conservation organizations are working to help local residents balance their economic activities with improved forest management. Sustainable development activities may include ecotourism, organic agriculture, ornamental and medicinal plant production, and craft production for the growing number of tourists. New employment opportunities include working as park wardens and in reforestation efforts, carbon monitoring, and infrastructure development.

Looking to the future

Two of the world's largest cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, lie within the Atlantic Forest ecoregion. Protecting biodiversity while meeting the needs of growing metropolitan and rural populations is a serious challenge. Logging, agricultural expansion, and associated road building threaten the forests in this region, while habitat loss, hunting, and the wildlife trade threaten many species.

The Nature Conservancy, American Electric Power, General Motors, Texaco, and Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental (SPVS) are jointly sponsoring the Guaraqueçaba Climate Action Project aimed at protecting and restoring over 17,000 acres of threatened and degraded rainforest in southeastern Brazil. By abating the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the project is expected to have a positive influence in mitigating global climate change.

The probability of species extinctions is high without intensive conservation efforts. Relatively extensive but generally unprotected blocks of forest remain in the southern portion of the ecoregion, particularly in Argentina and Paraguay.

External links

• Amazon Institute
• Atlantic Forest (Conservation International)
• Atlantic Forest Foundation, help preserves the Atlantic Forest
• Atlantic forest (World Wildlife Fund)
• Conservation by private industry
• FirstFlora (in Portuguese)
• The Nature Conservancy: Atlantic Forest (with photo)
• UNESCO: Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Atlantic Forest  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Atlantic Forest"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.