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Atlantic Forest

Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica)
Forest
Baía de Antonina vista da Serra do Mar2.JPG
Atlantic Forest in Serra do Mar.
Countries  Brazil,  Paraguay,  Argentina
Part of South America
River Paraná River
Area 1,315,460 km2 (507,902 sq mi)
Atlantic Forest WWF.jpg
Map of the Atlantic Forest ecoregions as delineated by the WWF. Yellow line approximately encloses the Atlantic Forest distribution.
Satellite image from NASA.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Panorama, Parque Nacional e Histórico do Monte Pascoal.JPG
Atlantic Forest in Bahia State, Brazil.

Location Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina
Type Natural
Criteria ix, x
Reference 892
UNESCO region Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription 1999 (23rd Session)

The Atlantic Forest (Portuguese: Mata Atlântica) is a terrestrial biome and region which extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the north to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south, and inland as far as Paraguay and the Misiones Province of Argentina, where the region is known as Selva Misionera.

The Atlantic Forest has ecoregions within the following biome categories: tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, and mangrove forests. The Atlantic Forest is characterized by a high species diversity and endemism.

It was the first environment that the Portuguese colonizers encountered over 500 years ago, when it was thought to have had an area of 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 km2 (390,000 to 580,000 sq mi), and stretching an unknown distance inland. Over 85% of the original area has been deforested, threatening many plants and animals with extinction

The Atlantic Forest region includes forests of several variations:

The Atlantic Forest is unusual in that it extends as a true tropical rainforest to latitudes as high as 24°S. This is because the trade winds produce precipitation throughout the southern winter. In fact, the northern Zona da Mata of northeastern Brazil receives much more rainfall between May and August than during the southern summer. The Atlantic forest is a rain forest.


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