Rio Ronuro Ecological Station () is an ecological station in the state of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, Brazil. It protects an area of contact between Amazon rainforest in the north and Cerrado semi-deciduous forest in the south. Since being created in 1998 it has been reduced in size and has suffered from significant

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

History

The Rio Ronuro Ecological Station was created on 23 April 1998 by the state of Mato Grosso to protect the environment, with an area of about , in the municipality of

Nova Ubiratã Nova Ubiratã is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso in the Central-West Region of Brazil. The municipality holds the Rio Ronuro Ecological Station, a strictly protected conservation unit created in 1998. See also *List of municipalitie ...

, Mato Grosso. The

Xingu Indigenous Park The Xingu Indigenous Park (, pronounced ) is an indigenous territory of Brazil, first created in 1961 as a national park in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Its official purposes are to protect the environment and the several nations of Xingu I ...

is to the northeast of the unit. On 20 April 2005 the state legislative assembly reduced the area to . The advisory council was formed on 12 April 2010. The conservation unit is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.

Environment

The Rio Ronuro Ecological Station (ESEC) is in the

Xingu River The Xingu River ( ; ; ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water. __TOC__ Description and history The fir ...

basin, and is drained by the Santo Cristo, Hinternam, Von Den Steinen and Ronuro rivers. It is in the

Amazon biome The Amazon biome () contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater river, blackwater and whitewa ...

. The unit is in an area with an equatorial climate with a dry season in the winter. Average temperatures are above . Average annual rainfall is about . The landscape is relatively flat. The ESEC would be in the proposed South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor. 38% of the ESEC is covered by pioneer formations and 62% by mature forest, including open submontane Amazon rainforest in the north, seasonal semi-deciduous

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

forest in the south and the contact zone between these biomes. Species found in the unit include

giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of mustel ...

(Pteronura brasiliensis),

black caiman The black caiman (''Melanosuchus niger'') is a crocodilian reptile endemic to South America. With a maximum length of around and a mass of over , it is the largest living species of the family Alligatoridae, and the third-largest crocodilian in ...

(Melanosuchus niger),

maned wolf The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of a red fox, but it is neither a fox nor ...

(Chrysocyon brachyurus),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(Puma concolor),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

(Panthera onca),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...

(Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and

giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(Priodontes maximus). Rare endemic fauna includes catitas ( marmosa species) and sauiás (

proechimys ''Proechimys'' is a genus of South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described ...

species).

Challenges

The unit is threatened by

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, land clearance for agriculture, indiscriminate hunting and fires. As of 2002 15% of the unit had been deforested. By 2005 that had risen to 20%. A 2014 study of ten protected areas in Mato Grosso,

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

and

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

whose size had been reduced since creation, including the Rio Ronuro Ecological Station, concluded that the reduction in area had caused the deforestation process to accelerate.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{authority control 1998 establishments in Brazil Ecological stations of Brazil Protected areas of Mato Grosso Protected areas established in 1998