coast
northeast
3 Biomes of Brazil's
I'The importance of biomes cannot be underestimated. They are the major cities of the natural world housing many unique forms of life while protecting our oceans, forests and deserts. Under assault from mankind for decades they are rapidly being destroyed.
Biome 2 -
Status: Uncontrolled tourism is probably the major threat to the area. Lack of financial resources for enforcement, research and monitoring contributes to their degradation.
Risk: Due to high susceptibility to erosion human occupation must be prevented. It can lead to a complete degradation and deterioration of these ancient sand dune systems. This in turn could lead to irreversible atmospheric and biodiversity changes.
Coastal Sand Dunes. The massive dune fields of this semi-arid region lie wedged between ocean and forest. Reaching height’s well over 150 meters, these majestic sand dunes are over two million years old. Strong winds, abundance of salt, and high surface temperatures, create difficult conditions for vegetation. Those that exist have adapted, and are called pioneer plants. The pioneers facilitate the appearance of other plants such as caatinga.
The white sands of this region are composed of microscopic reef animals and algae, including wave-worn fragments of brightly colored corals, teeny one-celled organisms and tiny fragments of sea shells and star-shaped sponge and coral.
The dunes also provides habitats for a variety of life which have adapted to this sea of drifting sand. Scientist have recently identified a new genus and species of lizards completely adapted to subterraneous life in the sands and similar to those reported for Australian and South African deserts.
Brazil's Northeast Biomes: FOREST / DESERT / AQUATIC
- Coastal sand dunes -