Guaporé Biological Reserve ( is a biological reserve in the state of

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

, Brazil, on the border with

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Location

The reserve of in the

Amazon biome The Amazon biome () contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater river, blackwater and whitewa ...

was created by decree 87,587 on 20 September 1982. The reserve is managed by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. It lies in the municipalities of

Alta Floresta d'Oeste Alta Floresta d'Oeste () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Its population was 22,728 (2020) and its area is 7,067 km². It holds part of the Guaporé Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit. ...

and São Francisco do Guaporé in the state of Rondônia. Altitude is from . Annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of .

Hydrology

The reserve lies in the Guaporé Depression, an extensive

pediplain In geology and geomorphology a pediplain (from the Latin ''pes'', genitive case ''pedis'', meaning "foot") is an extensive plain formed by the coalescence of pediment (geology), pediments. The processes through which pediplains forms is known a ...

with permanent wetlands and areas subject to periodic flooding by the rivers Guaporé, São Miguel, Branco and Massaco. The rivers are in the basin of the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

, a tributary of the Amazon River. They have their origins in the southern foothills of the Chapada dos Parecis. In this area the Guaporé River forms the boundary between Brazil and Bolivia. The Guaporé and São Miguel rivers form the north west, west and south west borders and are of great importance as natural barriers against the encroachment of loggers and illegal farmers. The Guaporé and its tributaries, the São Miguel, Branco, São Simão, Massaco and Colorado, begin to rise in October or November, fed by rainstorms, and continue to be high until March, when there is a significant reduction in water levels in the following months. Some sections of the Guaporé and its tributaries hold large floating colonies of

Eichhornia ''Eichhornia'', commonly called water hyacinths, was a polyphyletic genus of the aquatic flowering plants family Pontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has been sunk into '' Pontederia'', together ...

(water hyacinth) species, which sometimes clog the rivers and prevent boat traffic.

Vegetation

The vegetation is mainly dense forest apart from Chapada dos Parecis and parts of the Serra dos Pacáas Novos. There is great diversity of flora in the reserve, which is in the transition area between the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

biomes, and also has species characteristic of the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...

. Landscapes include open canopy alluvial forest in areas subject to flooding and open canopy submontane forest in areas with elevations of . The well-spaced tree forming the upper layer do not exceed in height and let light through to the dense understory, which includes many representatives of the

Rubiaceae Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...

and

Piperaceae The Piperaceae (), also known as the pepper family, are a large family (biology), family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,600 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of species can be found within the two mai ...

families. Common tree species include Attalea speciosa, Euterpe precatoria

Euterpe oleracea Euterpe (; , from + ) was one of the Muses in Greek mythology, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse of lyric poetry. She has been called "Giver of delight" by ancient poets. Mythology Euterpe was born as one of t ...

, Leopoldinia piassaba, Bertholletia excelsa and

Hevea brasiliensis ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now p ...

. There are scattered areas of dense canopy Atlantic alluvial rain forest with emergent evergreens reaching in height. This type of vegetation includes significant numbers of palm trees and vines. Common species in these areas include Manilkara amazonica, Apuleia molaris, Brosimum ovatifolium,

Aspidosperma album ''Aspidosperma'' is a genus of flowering plant in the Dogbane family (Apocynaceae), first described as a genus in 1824. It is native to South America, Central America, southern Mexico, and the West Indies. One Central American species of this g ...

and Vochysia guianensis. The Buriti Pioneer River Formation is dominated by the

Mauritia flexuosa ''Mauritia flexuosa'', known as the moriche palm, ''ité'' palm, ''ita'', ''buriti'', ''muriti'', ''miriti'' (Brazil), ''canangucho'' (Colombia), ''morete or acho'' (Ecuador), ''palma real'' (Bolivia), or ''aguaje'' (Peru), is a Arecaceae, palm t ...

(buriti palm). It is the last example of this type of vegetation in Rondonia, and covers an area of about . It is a delicate environment that provides a unique habitat for

macaw Macaws are a group of Neotropical parrot, New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful, in the Tribe (biology), tribe Arini (tribe), Arini. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation con ...

s that nest in the palms trees and

marsh deer The marsh deer (''Blastocerus dichotomus'') is a species of deer native to South America. It is the largest living species of South American deer. This is the only species in the genus ''Blastocerus''. Distribution It is found in Argentin ...

that breed in the environment.

Conservation

The Biological Reserve is a "strict nature reserve" under

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

Ia. The purpose is to fully preserve the biota and other natural attributes without human interference.. Specifically it was created to protect a representative sample of the transition ecosystem between the Amazon Forest and the Cerrado, as well as samples of aquatic ecosystems of rivers, lakes, fields and flooded forests, while protecting threatened or endangered species.. Protected species are

(Blastocerus dichotomus),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

(Panthera onca) and

giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of mustel ...

(Pteronura brasiliensis). The reserve would be included in the proposed

Western Amazon Ecological Corridor The Western Amazon Ecological Corridor () is a proposed ecological corridor connecting conservation units and indigenous territories in the southwest of the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Background The first version of the ''Ecological Corridors ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guapore Biological Reserve 1982 establishments in Brazil Biological reserves of Brazil Protected areas of Rondônia Protected areas established in 1982 Ramsar sites in Brazil