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THE HABITAT
THE BRAZILIAN ATLANTIC FOREST
The Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, in the states of Paraná and São Paulo, contain some of the best and most extensive examples of Atlantic forest in Brazil. These areas comprise the World Heritage Site Southeast Reserves of Brazilian Atlantic Forest (UNESCO, 1999) and display the biological wealth and evolutionary history of the last remaining Atlantic forests. From mountains covered by dense forests, down to wetlands and coastal islands with isolated mountains and dunes, this area comprises a rich, natural environment of great scenic beauty.
The Atlantic forest is one of the five leading biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is considered to be more complex and with higher species diversity than most of the Amazonian forests in South America. Separated from the vast Amazon Basin by huge savanna scrublands, the isolated Atlantic ecosystem runs along the coast from the eastern tip of South America in Brazil, to the northern regions of Argentina. The forest has a unique mix of vegetation and forest types determined by altitude: the lowland forests – a narrow strip of about 50-100 km along the coastal plains which covers about 20% of the region; the montane forest – extending as far as 500-600km inland and as high as 2000m above sea level; and the high altitude grassland.
Brazil covers about 5 % of the Earth’s land area yet harbors an estimated 17 % of global biodiversity (Mittermeier et al., 1998). Brazil’s Atlantic Forest accounts for at least 2% of the world’s total species of endemic (occurring nowhere else) plants and vertebrates and extends relatively parallel to the coast, from the Rio Grande do Norte to the Rio Grande do Sul. However, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has been severely reduced (Myers et al., 2000). The eastern seaboard has always been a focus of Brazil’s population and industry. Today, it accounts for 75% of Brazil’s population and 70% of its industrial production. Consequently, due to extensive forest clearance, only 7.5% of the primary vegetation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest remains, comprising 78,300 km2 of primary and secondary forest (Fig. 1, next page)
Despite this severe fragmentation the Brazilian Atlantic Forest has retained a higher species diversity than most Amazon forests of South America (CBSG, 1998), harboring thousands of different plant and animal species. Of its 20,000 types of higher plants, 30% do not occur anywhere else (Mittermeier et al., 2003) and species diversity is very high. For example, 450 different species of trees were recorded in a 2.5-acre plot, the highest plant diversity recorded yet anywhere in the world (da Fonseca et al., 2002). It harbors 252 species of mammals. Comparatively, the Amazonian Basin contains 353 species. Thus, high levels of diversity and exclusive species (endemisms) per unit area combined with the fact that little of the forest remains, underlies the great global importance of this region (Mittermeier et al., 1998; Myers et al., 2000).
Within the remaining areas of the Atlantic forest, the best preserved areas are found in the steep inland mountains of São Paulo State. These forests run parallel to the coast line and inland at the southern areas. Most of these forest areas are under official protection of the State Park system (Forestry Institute, São Paulo State) (Morellato and Haddad, 2000).
The largest continuous expanse of untouched (pristine) forest is found in an area comprising of 140,000 ha: The Paranapiacaba Ecological Continuum (PEC). Its biological importance is recognized and decreed as “The Brazilian South-eastern Atlantic Forest Reserves World Heritage Site” (UNESCO, 1999) (Figure below).
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