Satellite view of the restingas along the northeast coast of Brazil Photograph by USGS   Eastern South America: Eastern coast of Brazil Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   3,900 square miles (10,100 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut Critical/Endangered

· Location and General Description
· Biodiversity Features
· Current Status
· Threats
· Ecoregion Justification
· References
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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.

Location and General Description

Biodiversity Features

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.

For more general information on this ecoregion, go to the WildWorld version of this description.