Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...
state of Brazil.
Creation
In the 1970s the Special Secretariat of the Environment under the environmentalist
Paulo Nogueira Neto
Paulo Nogueira Neto (18 April 1922 – 25 February 2019) was a Brazilian environmentalist. He headed the first federal environmental agency in Brazil, the forerunner of today's Ministry of the Environment, and was a member of the United Nations B ...
launched a program of ''estações ecológicas'' (ecological stations) with the aim of establishing a network of reserves that would protect representative samples of all Brazilian ecosystems.
Several stations were created in 1981, of which the Taiamã Ecological Station was the only one in 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 ...
, created by decree on 2 June 1981.
The Taiamã Ecological Station is in the Cáceres and
Poconé
Poconé is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Mato Grosso in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region of Brazil. The Bento Gomes River passes within a few kilometers of the village.
The municipal ...
municipalities of
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...
.
It consists of the island of Taiamã, which covers a total area of and is bordered by the Paraguay and Bracinho rivers.
The purpose is to preserve nature and support scientific research.
Environment
The station consists mostly of flooded fields, but includes permanent and temporary lakes, ponds and meandering streams, strongly influenced by seasonal fluctuations of the Paraguay River.
The vegetation of the Pantanal is mainly influenced by 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 ...
biome, but also has elements from the
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...
,
Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...
and Atlantic Forest.
There are large fields of grass interspersed with areas of forest, and riparian forest along the rivers around the station.
Water plants such as water hyacinth (
eichhornia crassipes
''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.vermilion flycatcher
The vermilion flycatcher (''Pyrocephalus obscurus'') is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family found throughout South America and southern North America. It is a striking exception among the generally drab Tyrannidae due to its v ...
(pyrocephalus rubinus),
American cliff swallow
The cliff swallow or American cliff swallow (''Petrochelidon pyrrhonota'') is a member of the passerine bird family Swallow, Hirundinidae, the swallows and martins. The generic name ''Petrochelidon'' is derived from the Ancient Greek meaning "s ...
(hirundo pyrrhonota),
barn swallow
The barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') is the most widespread species of swallow in the world, occurring on all continents, with vagrants reported even in Antarctica. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply f ...
(hirundo rustica) and
purple martin
The purple martin (''Progne subis'') is a passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is the largest swallow in North America. Despite its name, the purple martin is not truly purple. The dark blackish-blue feathers have an iridescent ...
(progne subis).
Status
As of 2009 the Ecological Station 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, with a terrestrial area of .
Endangered species in the ecological station include the
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''),
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'') 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 ...
(''Blastocerus dichotomus''). Since 2018 the station has been designated as a protected
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**