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The Atlantic
Rainforest Paraty is a town surrounded by natural wonders. Its beaches, mountains, islands, waterfalls and forests are as beautiful as you will find anywhere in the world. The lush tropical forest that covers these mountains and islands and that protects these waterfalls and beaches is one of the largest remaining fragments of the “Mata Atlantica”, or Atlantic Rainforest, that was once a single mighty forest that stretched along the coast from the southernmost part of Brazil to the north of Bahia where the equatorial Amazon jungle takes over. The largest cities and the vast majority of Brazil’s population lie within this area and as a result only about 6% of this forest remains – forest that is considered by many biologists to be the most bio-diverse ecosystem on the planet. Put simply, this means that there are more species of plants and animals here than anywhere else you will find, many of which you will find nowhere else.
So, when you walk down
a forest track or look back towards the green-clad mountains
as you sail out of Paraty on a boat trip it is worth
remembering that you are privileged to be enjoying one of
the planet’s true natural wonders. UNDERSTANDING THE ATLANTIC RAINFOREST
Any ecosystem consists
of a web of life, plants and animals coexisting within an
incredibly complex set of inter-relationships which provides
the nourishment and protection which each species needs to
survive and which is as delicate as it is beautiful. Because
of the extraordinary biodiversity of the Mata Atlantica,
this web becomes something so complex that we can never
understand it all. Huge trees thrust upwards towards the
sunlight which powers the system and in their turn provide
shelter in the way of shade or within their branches for
other plants and animals that might feed upon the fruits and
seeds these trees produce, or that might feed upon the trees
themselves by eating their leaves or even sucking out their
very sap. These animals might then return the favour by
polinising the trees as they move from the flower of one
individual to another. Then, when the tree dies, other
organisms will feed on its decaying bulk until, when it
finally falls to the ground, the space in the forest canopy
that opens up, allowing sunlight to descend, will be
exploited by other trees that have waited below, thrusting
up to take the place of the former giant, and competing for
a place at the top. In fact, these are just a few examples
of the myriad of relationships in the forest. There are, for
example, species of orchids that can be polinised by just
one species of insect or bird and there are animal that
depend, for a large part of the year, on the fruit of just
one species of tree so you can see that each part depends
upon another for survival. THE FOREST AND THE ENVIRONMENT The Atlantic Rainforest exists in a climate of extremes. Intensely hot sunshine, cool nights, heavy rainfall and occasional periods of weeks without rain together with thin, poor soils have lead to the evolution over millions of years of this ecosystem. The health of the environment depends on the forest because without it, the burning sun dries the soil turning it to dust, the rain then washes it away leading to erosion, quickly leaving the soil barren. Without the protection of the forest canopy, the rain batters the ground ferociously worsening this erosion. The forest is like a giant sponge, soaking up
huge amounts of
rainfall and then releasing it slowly after the rain has
gone regulating the flow of water in the rivers and
waterfalls – without it, rivers swell in seconds and wash
away everything in their path leading to floods. Then, in
dry spells, waterfalls can disappear completely since there
is no longer water stored in the forest to feed them.
Beneath the sheltering foliage of the forest, temperatures
vary little, without it, extremes of heat and cold turn a
comfortable environment into a harsh one for many of the
native species. So you can see why it is important to
preserve this forest. It’s not just the biodiversity – in
many cases it is life itself, human life included, that
depends on our responsible use of the forest. It is possible
for humans to live sustainably within this environment but
we need to understand and respect it or we will be the
losers. SOME FOREST HIGHLIGHTS
It is impossible to
give a complete account of what this forest has to offer,
partly because you would need an encyclopaedia just to list
the native species but also because there are undoubtedly
many species that are as yet unknown to science! However,
here are a few better-known examples of what you might come
across while exploring the Atlantic Rainforest in and around
Paraty. Orchids and Bromeliads For those of you with a liking for beautiful and exotic plants, there are endless wonders waiting for you here. The forest is packed with native orchids and bromelias and you will certainly come across many if you just take a little time to discover the Mata Atlantica. Bromelias are a particular feature – the branches of most trees in the forest are heavy with bromeliads. Their roots provide little in the way of nourishment, they are mostly there to cling to the branches. They feed themselves mostly on the decaying leaves and other organic matter that fall into the cup-like structure their leaves form.
Each cup becomes its
own micro-environment as other plants and animals exploit
this tiny pond to live lives within lives up there amongst
the branches. Palmito
The Mata Atlantica is
particularly blessed with species of palms. One that is
beloved of all Brazilians is Palmito Jussara. It grows in
the shade of the forest and is as nourishing as it is
beautiful – there are more than 60 species of animals
(including toucans and many species of monkey) that depend
on its cherry-sized fruits for survival. Unfortunately for
it though, its palm-heart is a great delicacy. Its removal
results in the
death of the plant and
it takes 10 years for another palmito to reach full
maturity. (Watch out for “Ecological” cultivated palmito
Pumpunha if you want to try it – it’s delicious too!) Three-Toed Sloth
If you are lucky you
might just spot one of these shy woodland creatures. Its
favourite food is the leaves of the Embauba tree whose
delicate trunks and spidery branches are impossible to miss
in the local forest. Although this food is easy to find it
is also not very nourishing which goes a long way to explain
this famously lazy creature’s incredibly slow metabolism
(and perhaps its slightly bored expression.)
Pau Brasil This beautifully elegant (though thorny!) tree was nearly harvested to extinction in order to extract a red dye used for cloth and fine paint. It didn’t get its name from the
name of the country - it was the country that took the tree’s name because of the fame of this dye!
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