Atlantic dry forests
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The Atlantic dry forests are a
tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
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 A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
, located in eastern
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.


Setting

The Atlantic dry forests cover an area of , lying between the
Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...
savannas of central Brazil and 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 ...
dry shrublands of northeastern Brazil. The Atlantic dry forests stretch from northern
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 (literall ...
state across western
Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...
state into central
Piauí Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66& ...
. The Atlantic dry forests generally lie along the upper
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 ...
of Minas Gerais and Bahia, and in the basin of the Gurguéia River in Piauí. A large enclave of Atlantic dry forest lies on the
Chapada Diamantina Chapada Diamantina (; Portuguese for the "Diamond Plateau") is a region of Bahia state, in the Northeast of Brazil. This mountain range is known as “Serra do Espinhaço,” in Minas Gerais state, south of Bahia. Description The Chapada Di ...
of east-central Bahia.


Flora

The Atlantic dry forests are dense, with deciduous and semi-deciduous trees reaching up to 25 to 30 meters in height. The Barriguda Tree, ''
Cavanillesia arborea ''Cavanillesia'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae. It is native to Panama and South America. Taxonomy ''Cavanillesia'' consists of 5 species so far: * '' Cavanillesia arborea'' * '' Cavanillesia chicamochae'' * ''Cavanillesia hylogei ...
'', is a dry forest tree species distinguished by its huge, bottle-shaped trunk which reaches up to 1.5 meters in diameter.


Fauna


Conservation and threats


References


External links

*
Atlantic dry forest photos, including Barriguda Tree (World Wildlife Fund)
Atlantic Forest Neotropical dry broadleaf forests Ecoregions of Brazil Forests of Brazil * * . Geography of Bahia Geography of Minas Gerais Geography of Piauí {{ecoregion-stub