Caatinga enclaves moist forests

The moist forests in the Caatinga enclaves are an ecoregion of Biome Tropical Rainforest and South American Mata Atlântica. They are located in northeastern Brazil.

The ecoregion forms a series of unrelated, island -like enclaves in the much larger and dry thorn bush savannah ecoregions and bush Caatinga forest and sub-tropical Cerrado savannas.

Location

The moist forests in the Caatinga enclaves cover an area of 4800 km ² in the state of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil.

The enclaves, also called Brejo de altitude, located on four major plateaus, the Chapada do Araripe, Serra de Ibiapaba, Serra de Baturité and Serra da Borborema. The enclaves are located on windward slopes and plateaus at an altitude between 600 and 800 m.

Flora

The main vegetation type are seasonal deciduous forests with four vegetation strata and lanky trees that are higher than 30 m. The forest is largely the Mata Atlântica further east similar, but also includes species of the Caatinga, Cerrado and the Amazon rainforest.

The lanky and Screen layers consist mainly of tree species of the family Fabaceae ( Peltophorum dubium ), Meliaceae ( Cedrela fissilis ) and Apocynaceae ( Aspidosperma parvifolium ).

Fauna

The matched with this habitat in conjunction fauna has a strong connection with both the Amazonian rain forest as well as the Mata Atlântica and to a lesser degree the Caatinga.

The associated with this habitat animals include birds such as the Salvadori - White -eared parrot ( Pyrrhura griseipectus ), the ocher dwarf woodpecker ( Picumnus limae ), the Ceará Gnateater ( Conopophaga lineata Ceara ) and the Araripepipra ( Antilophia bokermanni ), Anura as Adelophryne baturitensis and A. maranguapensis, and lizards as Mabuya arajara and Leposoma baturitensis.

Unlike other groups, only a single mammalian species in this Feuchtwaldenklaven known, the endemic described in the 2000s Rhipidomys cariri, one of the climbing mice.

Conservation

The most endemic in these moist forests birds are considered by Birdlife International and the IUCN mainly due to habitat loss as a threat. In general, the situation in other animals is poorly known, but probably the most similar to the birds.

Guaramiranga Pico Alto ( 1115 m ) in the Serra de Baturité, 2005

Agriculture on the slopes of Pico Alto

Planalto da Borborema (?)