Rupestrian diversity
May 18, 2011
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| Foto Paulo Corgosinho |
By Mônica Pileggi
Agência FAPESP – Defining concrete and lasting actions to restore one of Brazil’s most biologically diverse environments is target of “The forestial diversity and seasonal standards of rupestrian fields and savannahs” project ("Diversidade florística e padrões sazonais dos campos rupestres e cerrado") coordinated by Leonor Patrícia Cerdeira Morellato, professor at Universidade Estadual Paulista’s Biosciences Institute in Rio Claro.
The study is part of the Recuperar network (Recovery), approved in the call for proposals launched in 2010 by the research support foundations (FAPs) of the states of São Paulo (FAPESP), Minas Gerais (Fapemig) and Pará (Fapespa), along with mining giant Vale S.A.
Brazil has innumerous zones of life and vegetal formations. Among the main types of vegetation are forests (the Amazon, the Atlantic Rainforest, mixed ombrophilous and other types). Some are among the world’s most diverse, with high local endemism – restricted to specific ecosystems. Nevertheless, the greater part of this biodiversity has not been studied or understood.
Brazil has innumerous zones of life and vegetal formations. Among the main types of vegetation are forests (the Amazon, the Atlantic Rainforest, mixed ombrophilous and other types). Some are among the world’s most diverse, with high local endemism – restricted to specific ecosystems. Nevertheless, the greater part of this biodiversity has not been studied or understood.
The country has several conservation hotspots, such as its rupestrian fields. Formed on thin, poorly nourished soil characterized by a high concentration of aluminum and an uneven terrain – the result of uplift – of rocky outcrops at above 900-meter altitudes, this vegetation has a vast wealth of flora, boasting more than 4,000 species, and endemisms.
“Rich in quartz and iron, the area under study has ravines, ridges and gullies all over, which are caused by mining. Because of the fragile ecosystem and the low resilience, rupestrian fields do not often manage to regenerate spontaneously,” explains Morellato in an interview withAgência FAPESP.
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