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The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: A Shrinking Biodiversity Hotspot

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Biodiversity Hotspots

Abstract

The Neotropical Atlantic Forest is one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspot. Originally, the forest extended over 1.5 million km2 along the South American Atlantic coast, covering tropical and subtropical climates across highly heterogeneous relief conditions, which led to outstanding levels of endemism and species richness. Unfortunately, the Atlantic Forest has been historically altered by humans, which has resulted in severe habitat loss and fragmentation. The forest cover is now reduced to around 12% of its original extent, including regenerating areas and degraded forests, which are mostly spread in small fragments. As a result, many species are currently threatened to global extinction, with populations collapsing on local and regional scales. In this chapter, we reviewed the state of the art of Atlantic Forest biodiversity knowledge, pointing out the main achievements obtained by several research groups during the last decades. Additionally, we (1) propose a new sub-division of biogeographical sub-regions into 55 sectors considering 2,650 sub-watersheds, using niche theory and bioclimatic data; (2) describe the original and present distribution of the Atlantic Forest; and (3) relate the forest distribution to elevation and geomorphometric information (aspect and terrain orientation). Forest protection and restoration efforts, and potential ecosystem services are also examined as key topics driving the future of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity.

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  1. Milton Cezar Ribeiro

    Present address: Laboratório de Ecologia Espacial e Conservacçã – LEEC, Departamento de Ecologia, UNESP – Rio Claro., Av. 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, 13506-900, Rio Claro, Brasil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, 321, travessa 14, 05508-090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Milton Cezar Ribeiro, Alexandre Camargo Martensen & Jean Paul Metzger

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G, Canada

    Milton Cezar Ribeiro & Marie-Josee Fortin

  3. Taki Ambiental, Estrada da Lagoa 3606, 18315-000, Ribeirão Grande, 45, SP, Brazil

    Milton Cezar Ribeiro & Alexandre Camargo Martensen

  4. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901, Recife, PE, Brazil

    Marcelo Tabarelli

  5. Conservation International, Rua Barão de Oliveira Castro 29 Jardim Botânico, 22460-280, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Fábio Scarano

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  6. Marie-Josee Fortin
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Correspondence to Milton Cezar Ribeiro .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Mammal Collection, Natural History Museum Vienna, Burgring 7, Vienna, 1010, Austria

    Frank E. Zachos

  2. Naturelle, Luxembourg, Musée National de Histoire, rue Münster 25, Luxembourg, 2106, Luxembourg

    Jan Christian Habel

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Ribeiro, M.C., Martensen, A.C., Metzger, J.P., Tabarelli, M., Scarano, F., Fortin, MJ. (2011). The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: A Shrinking Biodiversity Hotspot. In: Zachos, F., Habel, J. (eds) Biodiversity Hotspots. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_21

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