Brazilian Biomes

Map of Brazilian biomes

http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=169

Also known as “campos sulinos”; It covers about 60% of the state of Rio Grande

do Sul; It encompasses a big flat area; It is relatively rainy (around 1,200 mm per

year), without a clear dry season. However, the occurrence of very low temperatures in winter inhibits the growth of plants in a way similar to a dry season;

The temperature varies from hot in summer (35oC) to freezing cold in winter (-4oC);

“Pampa gaúcho”

• Its main type of vegetations is grass, with some bushes and few trees (=GRASSLAND).

“Pampa gaúcho”

http://www.dialogoflorestal.org.br/biomas/pampa/

It is similar to a savanna, with marked dry (winter) and wet seasons (summer);

Its vegetation is mostly composed of grass with some bushes and trees;

Being surrounded by the Amazon forest, Atlantic forest, pantanal and caatinga, its fauna and flora are extremely rich. Some of the typical animals of the cerrado are endangered species like onça-pintada, tatu-canastra, lobo-guará, águia-cinzenta and the cachorro-do-mato-vinagre.

Cerrado

• The temperature ranges from 10oC to almost 40ºC, with an average of 25oC;

• The yearly rainfall varies between 1,200 to 1,800 mm per year, concentrated in the summer.

Cerrado

http://geografianovest.blogspot.com/2008/12/cerrado-brasileiro.html

Cerrado

http://www.dialogoflorestal.org.br/biomas/cerrado/

It has some characteristics of savannas and of deserts (semi-arid deserts);

Yearly rainfall varies between 240 mm to 1,500 mm, mostly concentrated in three consecutive months. This sets two main seasons in the caatinga: a hot long dry season and a hot short wet season;

Its vegetation is composed of trees and shrubs with spines and various adaptations to water deficit.

Caatinga

Caatinga

http://naturezabela.wordpress.com/author/agefran/ http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17701189

It is the world’s largest wetland; The yearly rainfall is over 1,000 mm, with

dry (winter) and wet (summer) seasons; Average temperature varies between 23oC

and 25oC; Vegetation varies among what is found in

the cerrado, in wetlands and in tropical rainforests;

It has the world’s largest diversity of birds;

Pantanal

Pantanal

http://www.lordpalacehotel.com/gps/pantanal.html http://www.jaguarinpantanal.com/pantanal.php

Pantanal

It is a tropical rainforest, the world’s richest in diversity of trees;

The yearly rainfall of about 2,000 mm; Temperature ranges from 14oC to 21oC; Its biodiversity is extremely rich, with

many endemic species (they are found nowhere else in the world)

Atlantic forest

• 54% of the trees are endemic, as are 64% of the palms and 74% of the bromeliads. Among the fauna species, 80% of the primates are endemic, and 40% of all mammals, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians and birds.

Atlantic forest

http://eyesnature.wordpress.com/zen-films%C2%AE-of-natures-details/

It is a typical tropical rainforest; Yearly rainfall of about 2,000 mm, evenly

distributed throughout the year; Warm temperatures the whole year (24º to

25oC); It is thought to be the oldest tropical forest

area in the world, perhaps as much as 100 million years old;

It presents an enormous biodiversity; Plants are distributed in different layers.

Amazon forest

Amazon forest

http://www.ciflorestas.com.br/conteudo.php?id=3710

http://faculty.nwacc.edu/bhintert/Biology%201544.htm