The Atlantic Forest, located along Brazil's southern coast, has been in dire straits for decades, with expanding cities and agriculture leaving only a small fraction of the forest standing today. But the situation might be even worse than previously thought.
Several thousand tree species in the forest are threatened with extinction, a new study has found. Over 80% of endemic tree species are at risk of going extinct — and that's a conservative estimate, the researchers said.
“The conservation status of the Atlantic Forest tree flora is alarming but probably worse in reality,” the study, published this month in Science , said.
It found that two-thirds of the populations of all 4,950 tree species that make up the Atlantic Forest are threatened with extinction. Lead author Renato Lima said he and the authors knew the situation was critical but weren't expecting it to be this bad. They were shocked when they got the results.
“We freaked out a little bit,” Lima, professor in Ecology at the University of São Paulo, said of the results. “But that's the reality.”
The Atlantic Forest stretches approximately 30 million hectares (74 million acres) down Brazil's Atlantic coast, extending into parts of Argentina and Paraguay. Some notable tree species include the Paubrasilia echinata (brazilwood), for which Brazil is named, the Araucaria angustifolia (Paraná pine) and Ilex paraguariensis (yerba mate), among others.
The forest is an important carbon sink helping combat the fight against climate change. It also helps clean the air and water. Over 70% of the Brazilian population lives in or around the Atlantic Forest, according to SOS Mata Atlantica , an environmental group advocating for the forest.
“All the ecosystem services the forest provides have an impact directly on the Brazilian population,” Lima said. “But people think a lot about the Amazon because there's much more left. Plus, the Amazon provides ecosystem services to the entire world.”
Lima said he structured the study so that the tree species could eventually be included or updated on the IUCN Red List, which tracks the conservation status of flora and fauna. During the time of the study, only around 45% of the tree species were on the list.
Getting more on the list can be long and complex in tropical areas with limited resources, he said, as the process requires detailed information about each species and undergoes long reviews.
He said that means other biodiversity hotspots around the world might also have more threatened species than the IUCN list includes currently.
If the Atlantic tree species do make the list, it should help develop conservation strategies in the future, he said.
“With that list in hand, and knowing where those species actually are, you can try to plan your restoration and select species…that have lost a lot of their population and try to prioritize those species in restoration projects,” he said.
Banner image: Serra do Gandarela National Park in the Atlantic Forest. Photo courtesy of Frederico Pereira/ Flickr
Citations:
Renato A. F. de Lima et al. Comprehensive conservation assessments reveal high extinction risks across Atlantic Forest trees. Science, 383(219-225) doi: 10.1126/science.abq5099