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Serra_mar.jpg
Mata Atlāntica is the Atlantic Rain Forest formerly covering the wet coastal hills along the Atlantic coast of Brazil (mostly in the Serra do Mar). Mata Atlāntica is now designated a World Biosphere Reserve and contains a large number of highly endangered species including the well known marmosets and golden lion tamarins. It has been extensively cleared since colonial times, mainly for the farming of sugar cane and for urban settlements. The remnant is estimated to be less than 10% of the original and that is often broken into hilltop islands.
The Mata Atlāntica 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.
During glacial periods, however, the Mata Atlāntica is known to have shrunk to extremely small refuges is highly sheltered gullies, with most of the land area now occupied by it being occupied by dry forest or even semi-desert. Unlike refuges for equatorial rainforests, the refuges for the Mata Atlāntica have never been the product of detailed identification. Some maps even suggest the forest actually survived in moist pockets well away from the coastline misex with much cooler-climate species.
External links
- The Nature Conservancy: Atlantic Forest (http://nature.org/wherewework/southamerica/brazil/work/art5080.html) (with photo)
- Brazil rain forest project - Conservation significance of the Atlantic Forest (http://www.aep.com/environmental/stewardship/brazilrainforest/conservation.htm)
- Embassy of Brazil in London : Atlantic Forest (http://www.brazil.org.uk/page.php?cid=290)