What is Cerrado ecosystem?
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What is Cerrado ecosystem?
The Cerrado (Portuguese pronunciation: [seˈʁadu], [sɛˈʁadu]) is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the Brazilian highlands, the Planalto.
What plants are in the Cerrado?
The cerrado vegetation can vary from open field (“campo limpo”) to a tall closed forest (“cerradão”). Distinctive plants of the region include the pequi tree, whose fruits are a local favorite, deciduous trees Qualea grandiflora and Byrsonima coccolobifolia, and the timber tree Tabebuia ochracea.
How many species are in the Cerrado?
The Cerrado’s wildlife and rural communities stand to suffer the most. This savanna contains about 200 species of mammal, 860 species of birds, 180 species of reptiles, 150 species of amphibians, 1,200 species of fish, and 90 million species of insect.
What animals live in Cerrado?
Other large mammal species found in the Cerrado include the Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and the pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarcticus), and several cat species, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca), ocelot (Felis pardalis) and jaguarundi (Felis yagouaroundi).
What is Cerrado in geography?
In Spanish, the word cerrado means closed, shut, thick or dense, but in Brazil, the word has been used to describe an arid ecosystem and all the native species that are adapted to live in its seasonally variable climate.
What does Cerrado mean in geography?
noun, plural cer·ra·dos [suh-rah-dohz; Portuguese si-rah-doos]. Ecology. a type of plains community characterized by vegetation ranging from tropical broadleaf woodlands to scrublands, occurring in extensive areas of Brazil.
Do people live in the Cerrado?
The Cerrado is home to 216 Indigenous (native people of South America) territories and 83 different ethnic groups.
How much of the Cerrado is left?
Extent of Habitat Cover: Just over 21 percent of the cerrado remains. Habitat Loss Rate: 21,000 square kilometers of cerrado was destroyed annually between 2002 and 2008, twice the rate of the Amazon rainforest.
What does the Cerrado look like?
The Brazilian Cerrado encompasses the most extensive woodland-savanna in South America (Figure 1). Woodland savannas are landscapes with scattered trees and shrubs forming a sparse canopy. The Cerrado region also has a great variety of habitats, from vast grasslands to dry-canopy forests [1].
Is the Cerrado in the Amazon?
The Cerrado’s total area is approximately half of that of the Amazon rainforest; it represents the second largest biome in South America. It is the most biodiverse savannah in the world, concentrating 5% of the planet’s species; it is also home to 40% of Brazil’s water production.
Does the Cerrado ecosystem have warm summers and warm winters?
The “cerrado” region’s typical climate is hot, semi-humid and notedly seasonal, with rainy summers and dry winters.
How much of Cerrado is protected?
3%
You can see that the Cerrado region covers a big area of the Brazilian territory. Unfortunately, only a tiny amount (less than 3% of the area) is currently protected by law.
Does Amazon have Cerrado?
The Cerrado, a tropical savannah region located in Central Brazil, is nearly half as large as the Amazon and a deforestation hotspot. Yet little attention is paid to this important biome. That has to change.
Where is the Cerrado located?
Located between the Amazon, Atlantic Forests and Pantanal, the Cerrado is the largest savanna region in South America.
How much of the Cerrado is protected?
Why is the Cerrado important to Brazil?
Over the last 40 years, the Cerrado has played a crucial role as Brazil has developed into a world economic power. Many farms and ranches of various sizes are located in the Cerrado, but it is the large-scale farms that supply the majority of the country’s commercially raised agricultural products (Haupt 2014).
