Poco das Antas Reserve, Brazil Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Juan PRATGINESTOS   Eastern South America: Eastern Brazil Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   3,100 square miles (7,900 square kilometers) -- about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Forests in the Sand
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Forests in the Sand

Along the Atlantic coast of central Brazil lie three distinct patches of restingas forests, all characterized by the prominent sand dunes on which they grow. These forests vary from short shrub-like vegetation to tall forests distributed over sandy soils. The climate within the ecoregion varies, with the northern section the most tropical and the southern two patches becoming increasingly subtropical. Forest and scrub patches dot the landscape, interspersed with areas of stunted plants and open sandy patches. Gallery forests line the region’s streams and rivers.

Special Features

The restingas along the Brazilian Atlantic coast are characterized by sandy dunes with shrubs and low forests further inland. This ecoregion, as with other restingas habitats, contains nutrient-poor soils and their associated plant communities, as well as beach ridges and lagoon systems. The scrub vegetation is interspersed with dwarf palms, cactus, and ferns. This ecoregion’s isolation and unique characteristics help support a relatively high diversity of plants and moderate level of endemism. Trees grow relatively tall here, sometimes up to 50 feet (15 m) high. The restingas occur from sea level up to about 980 feet (300 m). Rainfall is seasonal and averages between 40 and 80 inches (1000 and 2000 mm) a year, most of which passes straight through the porous sandy soil.

	Just as the crab-eating fox’s diet is greatly varied, there is also wide variation in the animal’s coat color, with some individuals much darker than the normal grayish brown with black highlights.

Wild Side

Behind the dunes, sheltered from the sea winds, a patch of jundu thicket hides an endemic restinga antwren. In a nearby Cassia bush, the endangered pectoral antwren forages among the lower branches for small insects. In the crown of an angelim tree, a pair of red-tailed amazon parrots rests on a branch as they pick the fruits of a palm tree with their large beaks. Within the dense riparian scrub along a riverbank, a crab-eating fox looks for small rats and mice or maybe even a crab, but settles for a few pieces of fig fruit carried downstream by the last storm. The area is also home to a number of species threatened with extinction, including a river otter and a frog called sapo-de-capacete.

Cause for Concern

These restingas have been reduced to only 10 percent of their original coverage. They are now distributed in small patches across a human landscape of cities, towns, and agriculture. Urban expansion is the major threat to the last remnants of Atlantic Coast Restingas.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.