Una Biological Reserve () is a

Biological reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Location

The Una Biological Reserve, which is in the Atlantic Forest biome and covers , was created on 10 December 1980. It became part of the

Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor The Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor ( Portuguese: ''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 Atl ...

, created in 2002. It is in the Una municipality of Bahia. The climate is hot and humid, with annual rainfall over . The temperature varies from , with an average of . Elevation ranges from above sea level. The terrain has isolated plateaus, mostly around in height, within a flat coastal plain. Removal of the original forest cover has caused accelerated erosion of the plateaus. The reserve is in the basin of the Una River, which is fed by the Aliança and São Pedro rivers. The Serra River runs through the reserve from the west to the south east. The Maruim River forms the natural border of the north west of the reserve. The flora is a diverse example of Atlantic Forest biome. Fauna include three species of seriously threatened endemic primates: the

golden lion tamarin The golden lion tamarin (''Leontopithecus rosalia''; ), less commonly known as the golden lion marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae. Endemic to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, the golden lion tamarin is a ...

black-tufted marmoset The black-tufted marmoset (''Callithrix penicillata'') is a species of New World monkey that lives primarily in the Neotropical gallery forests of the Brazilian Central Plateau. It ranges from Bahia to Paraná, and as far inland as Goiás, betwe ...

and

golden-bellied capuchin The golden-bellied capuchin (''Sapajus xanthosternos''), also known as the yellow-breasted or buff-headed capuchin, is a species of New World or neotropical monkey. It lives mainly in trees and are omnivorous, eating a wide variety of both plant ...

. The environment has been damaged by deforestation, removal of riparian vegetation and cattle damage to the river banks causing more extreme flooding and greater levels of sediment in the water. This has had negative effects to the fauna.

Conservation

The Biological Reserve 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 fully preserve the biota and their natural attributes without direct human interference. Protected birds in the reserve include the

Atlantic black-breasted woodpecker The ringed woodpecker (''Celeus torquatus'') is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I ...

(Celeus tinnunculus),

black-headed berryeater The black-headed berryeater (''Carpornis melanocephala'') is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is endemic to eastern Brazil. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss du ...

(Carpornis melanocephala),

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 populatio ...

(Crax blumenbachii), banded cotinga (Cotinga maculata),

Stresemann's bristlefront Stresemann's bristlefront (''Merulaxis stresemanni'') is a critically endangered species of bird in the family Rhinocryptidae, commonly known as tapaculos. It is endemic to Brazil, where it occupies a highly restricted and fragmented range. Ta ...

(Merulaxis stresemanni),

band-tailed antwren The band-tailed antwren (''Myrmotherula urosticta'') is a Vulnerable species of insectivorous bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The band-taile ...

(Myrmotherula urosticta),

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) and

striated softtail The striated softtail (''Thripophaga macroura'') is a Vulnerable species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to eastern Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The striated softtail is monotypic. ...

(Thripophaga macroura). Other protected species in the reserve include

golden-headed lion tamarin The golden-headed lion tamarin (''Leontopithecus chrysomelas''), also the golden-headed tamarin, is a lion tamarin endemic to Brazil. It is found only in the lowland and premontane tropical forest fragments in the state of Bahia, and therefore is ...

(Leontopithecus chrysomelas),

maned sloth The maned sloth (''Bradypus torquatus'') is a three-toed sloth that is native to South America. It is one of four species of three-toed sloths belonging to the suborder Xenarthra and are placental mammals. They are endemic to the Atlantic coasta ...

(Bradypus torquatus),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...

(Myrmecophaga tridactyla),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(Puma concolor), Recife broad-nosed bat, Platyrrhinus recifinus,

Hercules beetle The Hercules beetle (''Dynastes hercules'') is a species of Dynastinae, rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of southern Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Lesser Antilles. It is the List of largest insects#Beetles (Coleopter ...

(Dynastes hercules), the butterfly

Napeogenes rhezia ''Napeogenes'' is a genus of clearwing ( ithomiine) butterflies, named by Henry Walter Bates in 1862. They are in the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae. Species Arranged alphabetically:Characiformes Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationsh ...

fish Nematocharax venustus.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Biological reserve (Brazil) 1980 establishments in Brazil Biological reserves of Brazil Protected areas of Bahia Protected areas established in 1980 Protected areas of the Atlantic Forest