IBGE in the field
Brazilian Biomes' update project reaches the Atlantic Rainforest
May 15, 2018 02h58 PM | Last Updated: June 05, 2018 10h38 AM
After completing the expedition along the Pantanal borders, the project to update the Brazilian biomes reached the Atlantic Rainforest. In 12 days, the IBGE researchers will have covered about 2,000 km, crossing the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.
The area was chosen because it represents the transition between the Atlantic and Cerrado Biomes, in a region with a high degree of human intervention. The team will leave Goiânia (GO) and will go through municipalities like Uberlândia (MG) and São José do Rio Preto (SP).
"This western part of the Atlantic Rainforest biome has no continuity and leaves many doubts. Our fieldwork will check these areas of contact with the Cerrado and the dominance context of species and characteristics, in order to deal with those issues," explained Luiz Alberto Dambros, an IBGE researcher at Natural Resources Management in Goiânia.
Expedition travels nearly 4,000km in the Pantanal
The first stage of the project took place from April 3 to 18 and verified the limits of the Pantanal biome. The IBGE researchers crossed 23 municipalities in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, covering about 4,000 km.
Pantanal expedition's route
According to IBGE's Natural Resources Mapping Manager, Therence de Sarti, this work represented a milestone in his career: "I could get a grasp of the full extent of the Pantanal biome's borders from an integrated knowledge perspective, taking into account aspects of the typical relief, soils and vegetation of the Pantanal. "
According to researcher Rosangela Botelho of the Natural Resources Coordination of the IBGE, the main challenge was to check the limits in areas where the plateau scarp that delimitates the Pantanal biome is not present: "in those areas, combined information of soil, relief, vegetation and fauna were fundamental."
The researchers also said they were surprised by the high number of animals hit in the Pantanal roads and by the expansion of soybeans: "traditionally grown in the plateaus, soybeans have now reached the lowlands, inside the Pantanal biome, and not only in the Cerrado," explained Therence and Rosangela.
The project will update the map of Brazilian biomes on a much more detailed scale and is expected to end in August. During this period, the team will share photos and videos through the IBGE profile on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, with the hashtag #ExpediçãoBiomas. Follow us!
