Ilha Grande, Brazil Photograph by WWF/ Miguel Fernando von Behr   Southern South America: Southern Brazil Mangroves   1,200 square miles (3,200 square kilometers) -- about half the size of Delaware Critical/Endangered

· Coastal Living
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Coastal Living

Where it hasn’t been destroyed by human development, the Atlantic Coast of southern Brazil provides pockets of protection for mangroves and their associated wildlife. Bays, river deltas, and coastal lagoons all provide habitat for dozens of bird species, as well as crocodiles, crabs, and other creatures. These mangrove forests are the southern extent of this habitat type in the Neotropics.

Special Features

The Serra Do Mar Mountains form a sort of protective barrier for coastal mangrove forests, shielding them from cold continental air masses. As a result, these mangroves are found farther south than expected. Many trees are draped in epiphytes, plants such as some orchids and bromeliads that grow on other plants.

	Despite the variation in species, herons and egrets are similar in that they are wading birds with long legs, necks, and bills. When flying, these birds pull their long necks into an S shape and let their legs trail behind them.

Wild Side

The shorebirds found in this ecoregion are dazzling in their color and variation. Great white egrets, little blue herons, black- and yellow-crowned night herons, black vultures, and gray-necked wood-rails are just a few of the more than 34 species that can be found here. Smaller birds such as sandpipers, terns, swallows, and doves can be spotted along the shore as well. Numerous mammals, reptiles, and crustaceans round out this coastal mosaic, including the yellow crocodile, crab-eating raccoon, otter, and numerous crab species.

Cause for Concern

This region is heavily affected by urbanization and industrialization, which have led to extensive land conversion and contamination by heavy metals, domestic and industrial waste, and oil pollution. Eighty percent of the these mangroves has been converted to condominiums and marinas. Dam construction starves the mangroves of needed sediment and has increased erosion.

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