Eastern South America: Eastern coast of Brazil
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Restingas are coastal dune environments which host with a variety of moist tropical and subtropical habitat types with elements of mangrove, wetland, caatinga, and moist forest, and occur in patches along much of the coast of central and southern Atlantic Brazil. The Northeastern Brazil restingas are the most northern occurrence of this ecoregion type, and are the most extensive and continuous of the Brazilian restingas. Much of the western portion of the ecoregion is protected by the Lencóis Maranhenses National Park, which contains some extraordinary dune-lake formations. This regions hosts a number of endemic and restricted range species and provides important habitat to several endangered species.
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Scientific Code
(NT0144)
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Ecoregion Category
Neotropical
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Size
3,900 square miles
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Status
Critical/Endangered
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Habitats
Description
Location and General Description
Biodiversity Feature
Current Status
Types and Severity of Threats
Justification of Ecoregion Delineation
Restingas are a distinct habitat type dominated by wind driven sand dunes – and are recognized nationally as unique. The linework for this ecoregion was derived from IBGE (1993), following their classification of "marine influence; restinga vegetation". The restingas were separated from the Atlantic Coasts restingas due to distinct vegetational differences – where this ecoregion shares affinities with Amazonia while those further east share closer affinities with Atlantic forests (da Silva 1998).
References
Fundação Instituto Brasilero de Geografia Estatástica-IBGE. 1993. Mapa de vegetação do Brasil. Map 1:5,000,000. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Silva, J.M. C. 1998. Um método para o estabelecimento de áreas prioritárias para a conservação na Amazônia Legal. Report prepared for WWF-Brazil. 17 pp.
Prepared by: Jan Schipper
Reviewed by: In progress