Pau Brasil National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Pau Brasil) is a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in the state of
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
, Brazil.
It preserves a remnant of 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 th ...
biome.
Location
The Pau Brasil National Park is in 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 th ...
biome.
It covers an area of .
It was created by decree on 20 April 1999, with a modified decree on 11 June 2010, and 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 ...
.
It became part of the
Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor
The Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Central da Mata Atlântica is an ecological corridor in the states of Espírito Santo and Bahia, Brazil. It promotes improvements to connectivity between fragments of Atlantic Forest ...
, created in 2002.
It lies in the municipality of
Porto Seguro
Porto Seguro (, Safe Harbor in English), is a city located in the far south of Bahia, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin Amer ...
, Bahia.
The park lies between the
Frades River (Rio dos Frades) and
Buranhém River
The Buranhém River - also known as Rio do Peixe - is a watercourse flowing through the states of Minas Gerais () and Bahia (), in Brazil. It ends its course at the Atlantic Ocean just by the city of Porto Seguro. The city holds a distinctive place ...
.
The terrain is a relatively flat coastal plain with elevations of cut by many deep gullies carrying streams that drain the area.
Most of the streams originate in the conservation unit.
Average annual rainfall is .
Temperatures range from with an average of .
The park contains a remnant of dense lowland rainforest of 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 th ...
biome including Pau-brasil (
Caesalpinia echinata
''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood ( pt, pau-de-pernambuco, ; ...
) trees, as well as regenerating areas that have been disturbed by human activity.
There are 71 endemic plant species, including
Protium icicariba,
Caryocar edule
''Caryocar'' (souari trees) is a genus of flowering plants, in the South American family Caryocaraceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1771. It is native primarily to South America with a few species extending into Central America and the Wes ...
,
Couepia belemii,
Arapatiella psilophylla,
Byrsonima alvimii,
Tibouchina elegans,
Eugenia flamingensis,
Manilkara multifida.
Conservation
The park 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 ...
II (national park).
The park's basic objective is preservation of natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty and enabling scientific research, environmental education, outdoor recreation and ecological tourism.
Protected species in the park include
jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
(Panthera onca),
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),
harpy eagle
The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the ...
(Harpia harpyja),
red-billed curassow
The red-billed curassow or red-knobbed curassow (''Crax blumenbachii'') is an endangered species of cracid that is endemic to lowland Atlantic Forest in the states of Espírito Santo, Bahia and Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. Its population ...
(Crax blumenbachii),
Atlantic black-breasted woodpecker
The ringed woodpecker (''Celeus torquatus'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae that contains the woodpeckers, piculets, and wrynecks. It is found in northern Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and western Venezuela. Its natural hab ...
(Celeus tinnunculus),
black-headed berryeater
The black-headed berryeater (''Carpornis melanocephala'') is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Identifi ...
(Carpornis melanocephala),
ochre-marked parakeet
The ochre-marked parakeet (''Pyrrhura cruentata'') is a species of parrot native to Brazil. It is also known as blue-throated parakeet and red-eared conure in English and ''tiriba-grande'', ''tiriba'', ''cara-suja'' and ''fura-mato-grande'' in P ...
(Pyrrhura cruentata), the fish
Mimagoniates sylvicola
''Mimagoniates'' is a genus of characid fish from rivers and streams in southeastern, southern and central-western Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and Paraguay.Thomaz, A.T., Arcila, D., Ortí, G. & Malabarba, L.R. (2015): Molecular phylogeny of ...
and
Rachoviscus graciliceps
''Rachoviscus'' is a small genus of characins from Brazil. These threatened fish are endemic to coastal river basins in Bahia, Paraná and Santa Catarina.ICMBio (Ministry of the Environment, Brazil)Portaria MMA nº 445, de 17 de dezembro de 201 ...
and the
Hercules beetle
The Hercules beetle (''Dynastes hercules'') is a species of rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of Central America, South America, and the Lesser Antilles. It is the longest extant species of beetle in the world, and is also one of the ...
(Dynastes hercules).
Notes
Sources
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{{authority control
National parks of Brazil
Protected areas of Bahia
Protected areas of the Atlantic Forest
1999 establishments in Brazil
Protected areas established in 1999