Jaíba Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica do Jaíba) is a
biological reserve in
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, Brazil.
Location
The reserve of of deciduous forest was created in the municipality of
Matias Cardoso
Matias Cardoso is a municipality in the north of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Location
Matias Cardoso is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River. It is 10 km. south of Manga and is 72 km. northwest of Jaíba. ...
on 4 July 1973 as Jaiba Forest Park, then became Jaíba Biological Reserve on 30 December 1994.
The reserve is in the
São Francisco River
The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...
Basin.
It is part of the Jaiba Sistema de Áreas Protegidas (SAP), which was created as a condition of approval of the Jaiba Irrigation Project.
The other fully protected units in the Jaiba SAP are the Serra Azul Biological Reserve, Verde Grande State Park and Lagoa do Cajueiro State Park, giving a fully protected area of .
The SAP also includes two Environment Protection Areas totalling .
In 2010 a single advisory board was established to oversee all the conservation units of the Jaiba SAP.
Environment
The climate is tropical, with temperatures ranging from and average temperature of .
Annual rainfall averages , mostly falling in the summer.
The reserve contains deciduous forest (Dry Forest) that is home to
agouti
The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced else ...
s, lizards, monkeys and various species of birds.
It belongs to 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 ...
domain.
A 2007 study of the vegetation found 27 families with 55 species.
15 species were from the family
and 4 species from the family
Nyctaginaceae
Nyctaginaceae, the four o'clock family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plants, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The family has a unique fruit t ...
.
The largest number of individuals was from the
Tabebuia ochracea species, followed by
Combretum leprosum
''Combretum leprosum'', the mofumbo in Portuguese and the asucaró in eastern Bolivian Spanish, is a plant species in the genus ''Combretum
''Combretum'', the bushwillows or combretums, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The ...
and
Terminalia fagifolia.
Conservation
As of 2009 the State Biological Reserve was 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.
There are trails in the reserve that are often used by students at technical schools in the region, and it is also an important research area.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaiba Biological Reserve
1973 establishments in Brazil
Biological reserves of Brazil
Protected areas of Minas Gerais
Protected areas established in 1973