The cerrado biome of Central Brazil covers some 2 million km², representing about 22% of the land surface of the country. The region is recognized as one of 25 global biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al., 2000) with an estimated 160, 000 species of plants, animals and fungi living within its confines (Dias, 1992). It has a high degree of endemism and a recent comprehensive study by Walter (2006) recorded 11,046 higher plant species for all habitats in the cerrado biome. This number has now been increased to over 12,000 spp. in Mendonça et al. (2008) in which Walter is one of the co-authors. The biome is under extreme environmental threat with approximately 66% occupied by a drastically changed landscape of crops or 'improved' pasture, while the remaining 34% of the original area remains in more or less its natural form (Oliveira-Filho & Ratter, 2002; Machado et al. 2004, Ratter et al. 2006). Click on the links above to find out more about:

•Cerrado distribution, soils and climate

•Cerrado vegetation structure

•Cerrado flora & diversity

•Cerrado ecology

•Cerrado conservation and development

•Historical collectors and vegetation studies

References:

Dias, B. F. de Souza. (1992). Cerrados: Uma caracterizão. In: Dias B. F. de Souza (ed.). Alternativas de desenvolvimento dos cerrados: manejo e conservação dos recursos naturais renováveis. Brasília, DF, Brazil. FUNATURA.

Machado, R. B., Ramos Neto. M. B., Pereira, P. G. P., Caldas, E. F., Gonçalvez, D. A., Santos, N. S., Tabor, K. & Steininger, M. (2004). Estimativas de perda da área do cerrado brasileiro. Unpublished Technical Report. Conservação Internacional, Brasília, DF, Brazil. http://www.conservation.org.br/arquivos/Relat Dermatam cerrado.pdf

Mendonça, R.C. de, Felfili, J.M., Walter, B.M.T., Silva Junior, M.C. da, Rezende, A.V., Filgueiras, T.S., Nogueira, P.E. & Fagg, C.W. (2008). Cerrado - Ecologia e Flora ed. 2 vol. 2. Ch. 15. Flora Vascular do Bioma Cerrado:checklist com 12,356 espécies. EMBRAPA CERRADOS, Brasília, DF, Brazil

Myers, N., Mittermeier, R. A., Mittermeier, C. G., Fonsêca, G. A. B. & Kent, J. (2000). Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 853-858.

Oliveira-Filho, A. T. & Ratter, J. A. (2002). Vegetation physiognomies and woody flora of the cerrado biome. In: Oliveira, P. S. & Marquis, R. J. (eds). The Cerrados of Brazil. Columbia University Press, New York, 398 pp.

Ratter, J. A., Bridgewater, S. & Ribeiro, J. F. (2006). Biodiversity Patterns of the Woody Vegetation of the Brazilian Cerrado. pp. 31-66. In: Pennington, R. T., Lewis, G. P. & Ratter, J. A. (eds). Neotropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.