Biodiversidade

Blue Jackdaw

Colaboração com o conteúdo: Biólogo Rivaldo Raimundo da Silva

Biodiversity

The Biome

The region covered by the Geopark Project is fully inserted in the Atlantic Forest Biome, considered the richest in biodiversity in the entire planet (some also consider a small occurrence of the Pampa Biome in Torres - RS).

Currently, less than 10% of the original area of the Atlantic Forest remains, and yet its floristic and faunal biodiversity is exceptional, and much of this is due to the fact that the region has a gradient of altitude, humid climate and a great diversity of natural environments such as: beaches; sandbanks; dune fields; wetlands in general; ponds; rivers, and various types of forests.

Vegetation

A variety of forest biomes stand out, such as:

Dense Ombrophylous Forest: generally present in the hillside and lower parts of the region such as Torres, Mampituba, Praia Grande, Jacinto Machado, Timbé and Morro Grande, and is characterized by evergreen vegetation with dense shrubbery, many ferns, bromeliads, orchids and palm trees (eg Palmiteiro), and trees that can reach 50m in height;
Mixed Ombrophilous Forest: also known as Araucaria Forest, this forest is characteristic of the highest points, as in Cambará do Sul;
Seasonal Deciduous and Semideciduous Forest: between humid and semi-arid zones, trees reach 20m in height and have a significant loss of their leaves in the dry period, differing from other forest formations;
Swollen Forest: Occurs in the lowlands of the coast in a naturally fragmented way. The soil of Swollen Forests contains a high concentration of water and is made up of a lot of organic matter.

Fauna

Regarding fauna, the geopark project area basically covers the Atlantic Forest Zoogeographic Region, and as with the flora, the fauna is quite diverse, according to the different existing environments, and in addition there are a significant number of endemic species (ie exist only in a certain natural environment), which is one of the facts that justify the existence of Conservation Units, such as the Aparados da Serra and Serra Geral National Parks in Cambará, Jacinto Machado and Praia Grande; Itapeva State Park and Itapeva Lagoon APA both in Torres; and Silveirão APA in Mampituba.

Among the various species of animals occurring in the geographical region of the Geopark we can highlight: