Vegetation 2

Rainforests

Wet littoral rainforest
This is the forest to which the term Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlantica) is usually applied. It is the dominant forest in the coastal lowlands up to an elevation of about 150 meters. Tree heights are generally in 10-15 meters range with emergent trees up to 20 meters. Species characteristic of this type of forest include Philydor atricapillus, Mionectes rufiventris, Ramphastos vitellinus, Attila rufus, Ramphodon naevius, Phylloscartes paulistus, Merulaxis ater (Song 1), Rhytipterna simplex etc.

The Atlantic Rainforest originally extended along the coast into Rio Grande do Sul and is at present found in a more or less degraded form near Parati, Ubatuba, Ilha São Sebastião, Bertioga, Santos, Peruibe, Iguape and on the Ilha do Cardoso. (Pics. 1,2)

Mountain rainforest.
This wet evergreen forest occurs along the coastal escarpment and in parts of the Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra de Paranapiacaba at elevations from about 150 meters to 800-1000 meters. Below 400 meters species of leguminous plants predominate. (Pic. 3, Song 2)

Bamboo.
Above 500 meters in the mountain rainforest there is often an abundance of bamboos of the genera Guadua and Merostachys which build dense thickets. The avifauna of the area includes several endemic bamboo specialists, some of which depend on the seeds of these grasses as a food source. These include Claravis godefrida, Haplospiza unicolor, Amaurospiza moesta, Sporophila frontalis and Sporophila falcirostris. Additional species typical of bamboo-dominated forest areas are Biatas nigropectus (Song 2 and 3), Psilorhamphus guttatus, Ramphotrigon megacephala and Hemitriccus diops.

Upland rainforest
Drier forest occurs on the inland slope of the mountains extending onto the Planato where precipitation, though reduced, still occurs in sufficient quantity in all months of the year to maintain an everygreen type forest. A remnant of this forest type still exists within the São Paulo City limits on the Serra Cantareira. A typical species of this region is Phylloscartes eximius (Pic. 4).

Semi-deciduous tropical forest.
In this type of forest there is a pronounced dry season. Though now largely gone in our area it was in fact the predominant type of forest cover in the area described in Pic. 5. Remnant forests still occur in areas such as Itirapina and Lencois with more extensive forests well out of the area to the west (e.g. Morro do Diabo). Typical species of this area are Phaeomyias murina, Serpophaga subcristata, and Elaenia chiriquensis.