Caatinga enclaves moist forests

The Caatinga enclaves moist forests are a tropical moist forest ecoregion of northeastern Brazil, which forms a series of discontinuous, island-like enclaves in the dry Caatingas xeric shrubland and thorn forests and Cerrado savannas.

etting

The Caatinga enclaves moist forests cover an area of 4,800 square kilometers (1,900 square miles) in northeastern Brazil. The enclaves are found mostly on four major regional plateaus, the Chapada do Araripe, Serra de Ibiapaba, Serra de Baturité, and Serra da Borborema. The enclaves are found on windward slopes and plateaus between 600 and 800 m elevation.

Flora

The main vegetation type is semi-deciduous forest with four strata of vegetation and emergent trees taller than 30 meters. The forest is generally similar in composition to the Atlantic forests further east, but includes species from the caatinga, Cerrado, and Amazonia as well. The emergent and canopy layers are made up mostly of tree species of the families Leguminosae "(Peltophorum dubium)", Meliaceae "(Cedrella fissilis)" and Apocynaceae "(Aspidosperma pyricollum)".

Fauna

Fauna associated with this habitat shows a strong connection with both the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, and, to a lesser degree, the Caatinga. Animals associated with this habitat include birds such as the Grey-breasted Parakeet ("Pyrrhura griseipectus"), Ochraceous Piculet ("Picumnus limae"), Ceará Gnateater ("Conopophaga lineata cearae") and Araripe Manakin ("Antilophia bokermanni"), frogs such as "Adelophryne baturitensis" and "A. maranguapensis", and lizards such as "Mabuya arajara" and "Leposoma baturitensis". In contrast to other groups, only a single species of mammal is endemic to these moist forests enclaves, the recently described rodent "Rhipidomys cariri". [Tribe, C. J. (2005). "A new species of Rhipidomys (Rodentia, Muroidea) from north-eastern Brazil." Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 63(1): 131-146]

Conservation and threats

Most birds endemic to these moist forests enclaves are considered threatened, primarily due to habitat loss, by BirdLife International and, consequently, IUCN. In general the status of other animals is comparably poorly known, but likely to be similar to that of the birds.

References

External links

* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt0106_full.html Caatinga enclaves moist forests (World Wildlife Fund)]