The Caatinga enclaves moist forests is an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

of the

Tropical moist forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

Biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

, and the South American

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 th ...

biome. It is located in

northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The ecoregion forms a series of discontinuous, island-like enclaves amongst the much larger and dry Caatinga xeric shrubland and thorn forests ecoregion and Cerrado subtropical savannas ecoregion.

Setting

The Caatinga enclaves moist forests cover an area of in the state of

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

, in northeastern Brazil. The enclaves are found mostly on four major regional

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

s, the

Chapada do Araripe The Chapada do Araripe, also known as the Serra do Araripe, is a ''chapada'' (plateau) in northeastern Brazil. The chapada forms the boundary of Ceará and Pernambuco states, and forms the watershed between the Jaguaribe River of Ceará, which fl ...

Serra de Ibiapaba The Serra de Ibiapaba (Ibiapaba mountain) also known as Serra Grande, Chapada da Ibiabapa e Cuesta da Ibiapaba, is an upland in northeastern Brazil, which lies on the boundary of Piauí and Ceará states. The range runs north and south, extending ...

Serra de Baturité Serra (Latin for "saw") may refer to: People * Serra (footballer) (born 1961), Portuguese footballer * Serra (surname) * Serra (given name) Cities, towns, municipalities Brazil *Serra, Espírito Santo, a city in the Greater Vitória area *Ampa ...

, and

Serra da Borborema The Borborema Plateau (Portuguese ''Planalto da Borborema'', also known as the ''Serra da Borborema'') is a plateau in northeastern Brazil which extends across the states of Pernambuco, Paraíba, and Rio Grande do Norte. The plateau is the northea ...

. The enclaves are found on

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

slopes and plateaus between elevation.

Flora

The main vegetation type is semi-deciduous forests with four strata of vegetation and emergent

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s taller than . The forest is generally similar in composition to the primary

s further east, but includes species from the

Caatinga Caatinga (, ) is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, v ...

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

, and

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

as well. The emergent and

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

layers are made up mostly of tree species of the families

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

(''

Peltophorum dubium ''Peltophorum dubium'' is a tree in the family Fabaceae and subfamily Caesalpinioideae. This species is known as the ''Ibirá-pitá'' in Argentina and Paraguay, ''árbol de Artigas'' in Uruguay, and ''Cambuí'' in Brazil. It is a large tree, gro ...

''),

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

(''

Cedrela fissilis ''Cedrela fissilis'' is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae. It is native to Central and South America, where it is distributed from Costa Rica to Argentina.Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

(''

Aspidosperma parvifolium ''Aspidosperma parvifolium'' is a timber tree native to Brazil, which is typical of Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Caatinga, and Pantanal vegetation. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich ...

'').

Fauna

Fauna associated with this habitat shows a strong connection with both the

and the

, and, to a lesser degree, the

. Animals associated with this habitat include

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s such as the

grey-breasted parakeet The grey-breasted parakeet (''Pyrrhura griseipectus'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is endemic to Ceará in north-eastern Brazil and restricted to a few mountains with relatively humid forest and woodland in a region other ...

(''Pyrrhura griseipectus''),

ochraceous piculet The ochraceous piculet (''Picumnus limae'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is endemic to eastern Brazil. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (als ...

(''Picumnus limae''), Ceará gnateater (''Conopophaga lineata cearae'') and

Araripe manakin The Araripe manakin (''Antilophia bokermanni'') is a species of critically endangered bird from the family of manakins (Pipridae). It was discovered in 1996 and scientifically described in 1998. The species epithet commemorates Brazilian zoologi ...

(''Antilophia bokermanni''),

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

such as '' Adelophryne baturitensis'' and '' A. maranguapensis'', and

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

s such as '' Mabuya arajara'' and '' Leposoma baturitensis''. In contrast to other groups, only a single species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to these moist forests enclaves, the recently described

Cariri climbing mouse The Cariri climbing mouse (''Rhipidomys cariri'') is a partly arboreal rodent species from South America. It is known from two mesic localities in Ceara, northeastern Brazil, within the semiarid caatinga ecoregion. It has been found in areas un ...

(''Rhipidomys cariri'').Tribe, C. J. (2005). ''A new species of Rhipidomys (Rodentia, Muroidea) from north-eastern Brazil.'' Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 63(1): 131-146 Caatinga enclaves moist forests WWF satelite

Caatinga enclaves moist forests WWF satelite

Conservation

Most birds endemic to these moist forests enclaves are considered threatened, primarily due to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

and, consequently,

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. In general the status of other animals is comparably poorly known, but likely to be similar to that of the birds.

References

External links