The first volume of the collection “Ecological Reserve of IBGE” will be released today, June 2...

The first volume of the collection "Ecological Reserve of IBGE" will be released today, June 2. It presents, in 28 chapters, the knowledge from different researches on terrestrial biodiversity in the area protected by the Institute and on its importance in the Cerrado biome (Brazilian savannah).

The publication encompasses texts from 58 researchers connected to IBGE and other Brazilian institutions or from those who develop research in the Reserve with Brazilian government and/or foreign funding. The release of the book will be at 10 a.m. at the auditorium of the ground floor in the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Administration in Brasilia. The book can be purchased in the Virtual Shop of IBGE: https://www.ibge.gov.br/lojavirtual/

The first volume – out of a total of three – of the series, "Ecological Reserve of IBGE", brings 28 chapters in four parts.

The three first parts portray the different levels of organization of the biodiversity considered in the studies: Terrestrial Landscapes, Terrestrial Ecosystems and Terrestrial Biota. The fourth part presents information about the scientific collections on the terrestrial flora and fauna of the area and about their computerization. It also brings an appendix with the list of species of all the terrestrial biotic groups studied in the Ecological Reserve of IBGE (RECOR).

RECOR, created in 1975, was the result of a pioneer project. Its purpose was to provide scientific resources for the sustainable territorial planning of the Central-West region, the new agricultural frontier of the country at that time. Following the guidelines established in the 1st World Conference about Men and Environment, held in 1972 in Stockholm, IBGE changed its unit of geodetic researches in Brasília into a protected area and established a program of ecological researches on the Cerrado biome, the second largest Brazilian Biome. That biome occupies an area of about two million square kilometers, it is extremely rich in hydric resources and it has unique biological characteristics in the world.

Nowadays, RECOR is part of an elite group of ecological research stations in the world. It includes 15 endangered species of the fauna (two of them existing exclusively in the protected area) and it presents a diversity of vegetal and animal species comparable to some of the largest forests in the planet. It is a reference for the understanding of the biodiversity, structure and functioning of the ecosystems of the Cerrado biome. It makes a difference by offering the possibility of controlled experiments (most protected areas do not allow for that type of intervention, not even for scientific experiences). In RECOR, experiments on forest fire effects, deforestation, soil correction for agriculture, irrigation and drought are conducted in order to understand the effects of climate changes and of the changes provoked by land use and by human intervention on the Cerrado biome.