The Boracéia Biological Station ( pt, Estação Biológica de Boracéia) is field research center of the

Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo The Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo ( pt, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, abbreviated MZUSP) is a public natural history museum located in the historic Ipiranga district of São Paulo, Brazil. The MZUSP is an ...

Salesópolis Salesópolis is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 17,252 (2020 est.) in an area of 424.997 km². Salesópolis sits at an elevation of . It is noted for b ...

in the

state of São Paulo State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

. Its mission is to carry out

biological research Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

and

botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...

on the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and t ...

(Mata Atlântica) of the São Paulo region. The biological station covers within the municipality of Salesópolis and is located from the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. The Boracéia Biological Station was established on March 16, 1954 under Decree-Law 23 198 of 1954. The center traces its history to 1938 with the establishment of the Quina Experimental Station of the Agronomical Institute of Campinas. The station studied the cultivation of quina, a

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection a ...

known as sources for

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

. Quina was grown at the institute until 1952. The biological station is located within a larger protective water reserve maintained by

Sabesp Sabesp is a Brazilian water and waste management company owned by the state of São Paulo. It provides water and sewage services to residential, commercial and industrial users in São Paulo and in 363 of the 645 municipalities in São Paulo S ...

, a water and waste management owned by the State of São Paulo. The water reserve serves as a source of the

River Claro A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

aqueduct, and includes of Atlantic Forest. The Boracéia Biological Station, as a unit of the University of São Paulo, is under neither the control of Sabesp nor the Brazilian National System of Units of Conservation (SNUC).

References

Protected areas of São Paulo (state) {{SaoPauloState-geo-stub