Maracá-Jipioca Ecological Station () is an ecological station covering two islands about offshore from

Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil. It is in the North Region, Brazil, North Region of Brazil. It is Federative units of Brazil#List, the second-least populous state and the eighteenth-largest state by area ...

, a municipality in Amapá state, Brazil. It protects an area of coastal mangroves and tropical rainforest.

Location

The ecological station is located on the adjacent islands Ilha de Maracá do Norte and Ilha de Maracá do Sul off the coast of Amapá, with an area of about . The reserve was created by decree of 2 June 1981 with the objective of preserving significant samples of the original coastal marine environment influenced by the Amazon river. It is part of the Amazon biosphere. It is managed 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 a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. The reserve is in the Amapá municipality of Amapá state. It is part of the

Amapá Biodiversity Corridor The Amapá Biodiversity Corridor () is an ecological corridor in the state of Amapá, Brazil. It provides a degree of integrated management for conservation units and other areas covering over 70% of the state. Organization The project to esta ...

, created in 2003.

Environment

The terrain is extremely flat, with maximum elevation of . Average annual rainfall is Temperatures range from with an average of . The climate is a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(Am) with moderate to little rainfall from August to November and heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the remaining months. The shoreline and stream banks are dominated by mangroves, with typical floodplain species of trees in the more elevated areas. The coastal vegetation is in the

Amapá mangroves The Amapá mangroves (NT1402) is an ecoregion along the Atlantic coast of the state of Amapá in Brazil. The low coastal plain has been formed from recent sedimentation, including sediments deposited by the rivers and sediments carried northward f ...

ecoregion. Due to the difficulty of motorized access the unit has excellent biodiversity with many species, some of them endangered. The reserve is used by many migratory birds including

American flamingo The American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber'') is a large species of flamingo native to the West Indies, northern South America (including the Galápagos Islands) and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is closely related to the greater flamingo and ...

(Phoenicopterus ruber),

American yellow warbler The yellow warbler (''Setophaga petechia'') is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus '' Setophaga'', breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, as well as northern ...

(Setophaga petechia),

laughing gull The laughing seagull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of North America, North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic ...

(Leucophaeus atricilla), semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca),

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

(Pandion haliaetus),

spotted sandpiper The spotted sandpiper (''Actitis macularius'') is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species the common sandpiper (''A. hypoleucos''), it makes up the genus ''Actitis''. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may Hybridisati ...

(Actitis macularius),

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

(Falco peregrinus),

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan wader, wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was form ...

(Arenaria interpres),

sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colour ...

(Calidris alba),

semipalmated sandpiper The semipalmated sandpiper (''Calidris pusilla'') is a very small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''pusilla'' is Latin f ...

(Calidris pusilla),

least tern The least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') is a species of tern that breeds in North America and locally in northern South America. It is closely related to, and was formerly often considered conspecific with, the little tern of the Old World. Oth ...

(Sternula antillarum),

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

(Sterna hirundo),

yellow-billed cuckoo The yellow-billed cuckoo (''Coccyzus americanus'') is a member of the cuckoo family. Common folk names for this bird in the southern United States are rain crow and storm crow. These likely refer to the bird's habit of calling on hot days, often ...

(Coccyzus americanus), black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus) and

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).

Conservation

The Ecological Station is 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. The purpose is to conserve significant samples of pioneer formations in the coastal marine environment influenced by the Amazon River. The conservation unit is supported by the

Amazon Region Protected Areas Program The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA; ) is a joint initiative sponsored by government and non-government agencies to expand protection of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Foundation The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) orig ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maraca-Jipioca Ecological Station 1981 establishments in Brazil Ecological stations of Brazil Protected areas of Amapá Protected areas established in 1981