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General Aspects
Brazil is the largest country of South America, taking
up almost half the subcontinent’s land area. Brazil’s surface
area is 8,574,761 km2 making it the fifth largest country in the world,
with 4,345 km from its most northerly point to the its southern tip, and
4,330 km from east to west.
The fact that 92% of Brazil’s land mass lies between
the tropics, together with its relatively low topography, account for
the predominantly hot climate, with annual average temperatures above
20o C. As already mentioned, the climate varies due to geographical and
topographical factors, the continental dimensions of the country and the
dynamics of air movement, directly influencing temperatures and rainfall.
Figure 1 presents data on the climate of Brazil, showing the different
climatic zones and temperature and humidity variations.
Figure 1
Climatic Zones |
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The country’s biodiversity can be described by
the diversity in biomes, biological species, endemicity and genetic heritage.
The continental dimensions of the country, and the large geomorphological
and climatic variations, shelter eight large biomes, 49 already classified
ecoregions, and a large number of ecosystems holding some of the richest
flora of the world, with approximately 56,000 registered plant species.
The Brazilian fauna is equally rich with over 3,000 species of freshwater
fish, approximately 600 species of mammals, 1,700 species of birds, 400
species of reptiles and over 100,000 species of invertebrates, incuding
70,000 insects.
Figure 2
The Effect of Anthropism on Native Vegetation |
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Table 1 presents a brief description of some of the main
biomes found in Brazil. Figure 2 shows comparative maps of the biomes,
with and without anthropism (situation in 1988), indicating the results
of the pressure to which the Brazilian biomes have been submitted. Although
anthropic impact is significant in most of the country, in the north it
is still incipient, and limited to the transition zone between the cerrado
and the rainforest, the result of the expansion of the agricultural frontier.
From geographic and political-administrative perspectives,
the country is divided into five regions based on climatic and physical
characteristics. These are: North, Northeast, Southeast, South and Center-West.
Brazil is a Federation of 26 States and the Federal District (Figure 3).
The North, the largest region of Brazil, has 3.87 million
km2 (45.3% of Brazil’s land area), and almost 13 million
inhabitants (7.6% of the population). The largest tropical/humid area
is found in this region, as is most of the Amazon Rainforest. It is rich
in water resources but only sparsely populated and with little industrial
development. Seven states make up the Region: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas,
Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins.
The Northeast, with 1.56 million km2 (18.2%
of the Brazilian territory), includes most of the semi-arid region of
Brazil. The region has over 47 million inhabitants (28.1% of the Brazilian
population). The nine states that make up the region are Alagoas, Bahia,
Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí,
Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe. The humid areas are limited to those
bordering the northern region and the coastal strip. The semi-arid region
has very irregular annual average rainfall, ranging from 200 to 700 mm
a year, and the population there is the poorest in Brazil, with many serious
social problems.
Table 1 - Principal
Brazilian Biomes
· The Amazon Biome is the largest body of rainforest on the
planet, with hot equatorial, extremely humid and humid climates.
It covers a surface area of 4,005,082 km2, with water and native
vegetation making up approximately 92% of this area.
· The Cerrado Biome takes up an area of
1,890,278 km2, or approximately 22% of the country, with vegetation
ranging from the dense forests at the edge of the Amazon Rainforest
to the stunted and twisted, widely spaced trees of the cerrado grasslands.
· The Pantanal Biome covers an area of
154,884 km2. Native vegetation still covers 97% of the area and
has been altered by cattle ranching. The Pantanal Depression is
a large area where water and sediments accumulate, a predominantly
flat orgently rolling terrain that is periodically flooded.
· The Caatinga Biome is characterized by
thorny, dry vegetation, with very high temperatures and low air
humidity. This biome covers an area of 939,391 km2.
· The Pinheirais Biome, takes up an area of 220,363 km2,
and coincides with the Brazilian Meridional Plateau. In this area,
co-exist Austro-Brazilian tropical and temperate flora. The natural
vegetation was once dominated by Araucária Pine Forests,
but today, they cover less than 10% of their original area.
· The Extreme South Biome consists of all
of the area of Brazil formerly covered by grasslands and some forests,
south of the Meridional Plateau, limited in the east by the coastal
áreas of the Rio Grande do Sul Plain. The climate is mild
to temperate, very humid, with no dry season. It covers 203,8752
km.
· The Coastal and Island Biomes, located
along the more than 7,000 km between the Oyapock River on the North
and Chuy Creek in the South where a broad range of biomes are to
be found: e.g. dunes, reefs, rocky coastlines, bays, estuaries,
marshes, cliffs and sandbanks. This coastal area holds more than
half of the population and most of the economic production of Brazil.
· The Atlantic Forest Biome, approximately
1 million km2 in area, extends along the Brazilian coast between
Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul. Currently, only about
7% of its forest cover is left, the result of five centuries of
colonization and the expansion of agriculture and urbanization in
Brazil.
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Figure 3
Division of Brazil into Geographic Regions |
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The Southeast region covers 927 thousand km2 (10.9% of
Brazil’s land area), has 72.4 million inhabitants, at 42.6%, the
largest part of the country’s population. Made up of the states
of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo, it is the most highly industrialized region, with the highest agricultural
production in Brazil.
The Southern region, with 577 thousand km2
(6.8% of Brazil’s land area) has a subtropical climate, cold, dry
winters, and hot, humid summers. The three states that make up the region
(Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) have together slightly
over 25 million inhabitants (14.8% of the population of Brazil). It is
the region with the best social development rates in Brazil.
The Center-West is the region where the country’s
agricultural frontier is still expanding. With 1.61 million km2
(18.9% of Brazil’s land area) and 11.6 million inhabitants (6.8%
of the total), it includes the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul,
Goiás and the Federal District.
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