The Mata Preta Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica da Mata Preta) is an ecological station in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It preserves fragments of

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 ...

vegetation, including endangered plant and animal species.

Location

The Mata Preta Ecological Station (ESEC) is in the municipality of

Abelardo Luz Abelardo Luz is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Santa Catarina. Until 1958 it was part of the municipality of Xanxerê. It is the birthplace of Brazilian former football player Paulo Roberto Falcão Paulo Roberto Falcão, or simp ...

, Santa Catarina. It has an area of . The ESEC lies just south of the border with the state of Paraná. It is along the south of the section of the BR-280 highway between Clevelândia and Palmas, in three separate sections. The SC-155 highway divides the eastern section from the central section. The buffer zone is wide and includes part of the municipality of Clevelândia.

History

The Mata Preta Ecological Station was created on 19 October 2005. The process was very confrontational, with strong opposition from the landowners. The consultative council was created on 1 September 2010. As of 2016 the legal status was still not finalized and the owners of land in the ESEC had not been compensated. No field studies had been undertaken and there was no management plan. The ESEC is classed as

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 (strict nature reserve). It has the objectives of conserving nature and supporting scientific research. It is administered 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 the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

(ICMBio).

Environment

The terrain is hilly, cut by small watercourses that feed the Chapecó River in the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

basin. Altitudes range from above sea level. Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . The ESEC is in the

biome. Vegetation is mainly mixed rainforest. The three sections of forest are in different stages of regeneration. One of them is well-preserved and holds an immense stand of ''

Araucaria angustifolia ''Araucaria angustifolia'', the Paraná pine, Brazilian pine or candelabra tree (, or ), is a critically endangered species in the conifer genus '' Araucaria''. Although the common names in various languages refer to the species as a "pine", it d ...

'', with tree species in the under story typical of the

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

formation such as ''

Ocotea porosa ''Ocotea porosa'', commonly called imbuia or Brazilian walnut, is a species of plant in the Lauraceae family. Its wood is very hard, and it is a major commercial timber species in Brazil. Taxonomy and naming It is often placed in the related ...

'', '' Sloanea lasiocoma'' and ''

Ilex paraguariensis ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

''. The other two fragments show the impact of human activity, with clearings in which there are different stages of succession growth. However, they contain rare and endangered tree species. Important tree species include ''

Dicksonia sellowiana ''Dicksonia sellowiana'', the xaxim, or samambaiaçu or imperial samambaiaçu, is an arborescent fern in the family Dicksoniaceae, native to the tropical Americas. Distribution The fern is native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and South A ...

'', ''

Parapiptadenia rigida ''Parapiptadenia rigida'' is a perennial shrub or tree. It is not a threatened species. It is native to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Common names include angico, angico-cedro, angico-do-banhado, angico-dos-montes, angico-verdadeiro, ...

'', '' Cordia trichotoma'', ''

Ocotea pulchella ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of t ...

'', '' Nectandra lanceolata'', ''

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.Psychotria leiocarpa'' and '' Aechmea recurvata''. Protected mammal and bird species include the

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''),

oncilla The oncilla (''Leopardus tigrinus''), also known as the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo, is a small spotted cat ranging from Central America to central Brazil. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the popul ...

(''Leopardus tigrinus''),

colocolo The Pampas cat (''Leopardus colocola'') is a small wild cat native to South America. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as habitat conversion and destruction may cause the population to decline in the future. It is named after ...

(''Leopardus colocolo''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(''Puma concolor''),

pygmy brocket The pygmy brocket (''Mazama nana'') is a brocket deer species from South America. It is found in southern Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.Abreu Jr., E.F.; Sühs, R.B.; Putzke, J.; Köhler, A. Ocorrência de Mazama nana Hensel, 1872, no Cinturão ...

(''Mazama nana'') and

vinaceous-breasted amazon The vinaceous-breasted amazon (''Amazona vinacea'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical ...

(''Amazona vinacea''). The buffer zone contains small agricultural settlements, small and large farms and large pine plantations. There are huge fields of soy beans, wheat and corn. The region is under intense pressure from logging and agriculture. Apart from fragmentation, the ESEC is threatened by hunting, fires in the buffer zone fields in late winter, abandoned domestic animals, capture of wild animals for breeding in captivity and invasive exotic species.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{authority control 2005 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of Santa Catarina (state) Ecological stations of Brazil Protected areas established in 2005 Protected areas of the Atlantic Forest