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| Biosphere Reserve Information | ||||
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PANTANAL |
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| General Description | The Pantanal Biosphere Reserve comprises the States of Mato Grosso, Matto Grosso do Sul and a small portion of Goiás State. It covers the headwaters of the rivers that make up the Pantanal, one of the world’s most extensive wetland complexes, internationally known for its large bird, mammal, reptile, fish, insect and amphibian populations. It encompasses both highlands and lowlands, from the large lakes on the border with Bolivia, flood plains, grasslands and highland cerrado in the ‘Chapada dos Guimarães’, ‘Serra de Santa Bárbara’ and ‘Urucum’ mountains, with summits of 1,000 metres above sea level. Other notable ecosystems within the Biosphere Reserve are the seasonally flooded cerrado, highland grasslands, seasonally flooded grasslands, cerradão (forest-like cerrado), deciduous forests, gallery forests, Buriti palm stands, Amazon like-forest, Atlantic Forest influenced forest, Chaco and Chaco Forest. There is a strong link between traditional rural human populations and the environment. More than 2,800,000 inhabitants (2001) live in the biosphere reserve. Extensive cattle grazing has been practized widely over most of the lowlands and has been the major economic activity since European colonization began. Ecotourism and recreational fishing are examples of sustainable natural resource use activities that will be strengthened by the biosphere reserve designation. | |||
| Major ecosystem type | Freshwater wetlands; dry tropical forest | |||
| Major habitats & land cover types | Cerrado sensu stricto characterized by lower ligneous layer, open canopies and dense herbaceous cover with species such as Luehea divaricata, Erythroxylum suberosum, Curatella americana, Qualea grandiflora, Q. parviflora etc.; Cerradão dominated by the same cerrado species in forest-like ecosystem with species such as Anadenanthera peregrina, Fagara hassleriana, Pouteria ramiflora etc.; dry forest/regional deciduous forest characterized by Tabebuia impetiginosa, Miracrodruon urundeuva, Apuleia molaris etc.; gallery forest with Buchenavia capitata, Tabebuia heptaphylla, Copaifera langsdorffi etc. in dryer areas and with Mauritia flexuosa and Xylopia emarginata in more humid of flooded areas; freshwater wetlands; cattle grazing areas; agroecosystems with soya beans and maize; gold and limestone extraction. | |||
| Location | 17°50'S; 56°40'W | |||
| Area (hectares) | ||||
| Total | 25,156,905 | |||
| Core area(s) | 664,245 | |||
| Buffer zone(s) | 5,392,480 | |||
| Transition area(s) when given | 19,100,180 | |||
| Altitude (metres above sea level) | +80 to +1,065 | |||
| Year designated | 2000 | |||
| Administrative authorities | Diretoria de Ecossistemas (IBAMA) and the Executive Secretary of Environment, States of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul | |||
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| Brief description |
Monitoring of hydrology and meteorology Geological, speleological and mapping characteristics Vertebrate fauna assessment and monitoring Invertebrate fauna assessments Plant-sociological parameters of shrub and arboreal communities Plant-sociological studies of the Cerrado's tree layer Medicinal plants Human populations of the Pantanal Agriculture and livestock monitoring in Brazil |
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| Specific variables... | ||||
| Abiotic | Geology, hydrology, meteorology, monitoring/methodologies, speleology. | |||
| Biodiversity | Community studies/Communities, fauna, invertebrates/insects/spiders, methodologies, natural medicinal products, plants. | |||
| Socio-economic | Agriculture/Production systems, livestock and related impacts/overgrazing, monitoring methodologies, social/socio-economic aspects. | |||
| Integrated monitoring | Mapping. | |||
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| Last updated: 14/03/2005 |
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