Atol das Rocas Biological Reserve () is a biological reserve in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is located on the

Rocas Atoll The Rocas Atoll ( ) is the only atoll in the South Atlantic Ocean. It belongs to the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Norte. It is located approximately northeast of Natal and west of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago. The atoll is of volc ...

, an atoll north-east of the Brazilian coast. It was established in 1979 to protect nesting sea turtles and migratory seabirds.

Geography

is north east from the coast of

Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Natal (), literally ''Christmas'' or ''natal'' ("birth") is the capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Norte, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern Brazil. According to Brazilian Institute of Geograp ...

in north-east Brazil, and is the only atoll in the south-western Atlantic. The

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

atoll is built on the upper, western part of the flat top of a volcanic

seamount A seamount is a large submarine landform that rises from the ocean floor without reaching the water surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet, or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly a ...

on the north-eastern part of the Brazilian continental margin. The seamount rises to a depth of below the surface. The distance from the reef to the edge of the top of the seamount is about to the west, to the north-west and to the east. The sediment in the lagoon and surrounding the atoll is mostly coarse sand, much of which originates from the corals and

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

shells. The reef has the shape of an ellipse with its axis running east–west, and is about . There are two small islands inside the lagoon. Ilha do Farol (Lighthouse Island) covers and Ilha do Cemitério (Cemetery Island) covers . The highest point is above sea level. The reserve covers .

Environment

Rainfall is annually. Air temperatures vary from , with an average of . Water temperature is very stable at . The islands are remote and have not been affected much by human activity.

Wildlife

An estimated 143,000 birds use the atoll, mainly

masked booby The masked booby (''Sula dactylatra''), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked boob ...

(''Sula dactylatra''),

brown booby The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious bro ...

(''Sula leucogaster''),

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The ...

(''Anous stolidus''),

black noddy The black noddy (''Anous minutus''), also known as white-capped noddy, is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized seabird with black plumage and a white cap that closely resembles the lesser noddy with which it was at one ...

(''Anous minutus'') and

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans, and remarkably, has evolved the ability to fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only ...

(''Onychoprion fuscatus''). The reserve has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports significant

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

. Protected species include the

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...

(''Caretta caretta''),

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largel ...

(''Eretmochelys imbricata''),

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

(''Chelonia mydas''),

red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...

(''Phaethon aethereus''),

white-tailed tropicbird The white-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon lepturus'') or yellow-billed tropicbird is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tro ...

(''Phaethon lepturus''), the crabs ''

Johngarthia lagostoma ''Johngarthia lagostoma'' is a species of terrestrial crab that lives on Ascension Island and three other islands in the South Atlantic. It grows to a carapace width of on Ascension Island, where it is the largest native land animal. It exist ...

'' and '' Percnon gibbesi'', the

starfish Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

''Echinaster'' (''Othilia'') ''guyanensis'',

lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Requiem shark, Carcharhinidae, known for its yellowish skin, which inspires its common name. It is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for ...

(''Negaprion brevirostris''), and the corals ''

Millepora alcicornis ''Millepora alcicornis'', or sea ginger, is a species of colonial fire coral with a calcareous skeleton. It is found on shallow water coral reefs in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean. It shows a variety of different morphologies depending on its ...

'' (sea ginger) and '' Phyllogorgia dilatata''.

Conservation

The Biological Reserve is a "strict nature reserve" under

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

Ia. It was created on 5 June 1979 and is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. The objectives are full preservation of biota and other natural attributes without direct human interference or environmental changes, except for recovery of altered ecosystems and actions needed to restore and preserve the natural balance, biological diversity and natural ecological processes. The reserve has been nominated as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{Biological reserve (Brazil) Biological reserves of Brazil Important Bird Areas of Atlantic islands Important Bird Areas of Brazil Protected areas established in 1979 Protected areas of Rio Grande do Norte 1979 establishments in Brazil Ramsar sites in Brazil