The Bahian Coastal Forest:

The Biotic Inventory of Southern Bahia is a collaboration between Center for Cocoa Research ( Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil, CEPEC), the Zoological Museum of the University of São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil, MZUSP), the New York Botanical Garden (New York, USA, NYBG) and the American Museum of Natural History (New York, USA, AMNH). The goal of this research project is to catalogue the plants, ants and social wasp as major constituents of this ecosystem, and to make the data available for ongoing conservation efforts in the Mata Atlantica, one of the two most endangered ecosystems of the world.

NASA SIR-C/X-SAR satellite image of the Una region of Bahia, Brazil - This is a color composite image of southern Bahia, Brazil, centered at 15.22 degree south latitude and 39.07 degrees west longitude. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 38th orbit of Earth on October 2, 1994.

An assessment by Conservation International of the economics of conservation around the Una Biological Reserve in Southern Bahia to increase the understanding of economic choices in order to articulate the value of biodiversity at the level of the individual landowner.

The Coastal Forest of Northeastern Brazil:

Information about the Workshop "Biodiversity Conservation Priorities for the Brazilian Northeastern Atlantic Forest", held in 1993. Main results include: Priority Areas for Conservation, Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Aquatic Biota, Insects, Botany, Thematic Maps, Organizer Institutions, and Participants.

Rio Doce Forest Reserve -- Reserva Florestal Rio Doce, Espírito Santo, a private reserve owned by the Compania Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD).

General Information on the Coastal Forest:

Information and sites gathered by the Base de Dados Tropical on the Atlantic coastal forest fauna, flora, non-profit organizations, and workshops.

A list, with descriptions (in Portuguese) of Brazil's National Parks.

Information on Brazil's federal parks and reserves (in Spanish) with tables and figures detailing the size and location of each area.

Global 200: Focal 25: Atlantic Forests Factsheet.  Atlantic Forest Major Habitat Type: Tropical Moist Broadleaf Biogeographic Region. Southeastern coast of South America (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Overview). The Atlantic Forest once covered more than 386,000 square miles along Brazil's coast with extensions into eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina.

Research Institutions Studying the Coastal Forest:

The Atlantic Forest Program of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden (Programa Mata Atlântica do Jardim Botânico de Rio de Janeiro).  The Atlantic Forest Program was created in 1989 to promote the understanding of the remaining areas of Atlantic Forest, particularly in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Institute of Botany of the State of São Paulo.  Areas of research (all in Portuguese): Gallery Forest, Cerrado, Fontes do Ipiranga State Park, Coastal Ecosystems, Atlantic Coastal Forest, Basic Research, Plant Resources, and Environmental Education.  Portuguese: Mata Ciliar, Cerrado, Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga, Ecossistemas Costeiros, Mata Atlântica, Estudos Básicos, Utilização de Recursos Vegetais, Educação Ambiental.

Chocolate:

The story of chocolate:  Chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao plant, which is native to South America''s tropical rain forest. At least 3000 years ago, the Mesoamericans discovered how to  process the beans to release the distinctive chocolate flavor, and drank it as a sacred beverage. Cacao is now grown all over the world, which annually consumes more than a million tons of processed chocolate. But cacao yields around the world are falling, because the pollination rate of commercially cultivated cacao plants is extremely low. Plantations are also plagued by diseases, expensive to run, and consume precious rain forest. Scientists have recently learned that cacao flowers are pollinated exclusively by midges--small, gnat-like flies—which prefer moist rain forest to sunny plantations. Eager to cultivate cacao more efficiently, farmers are now starting to grow cacao in small patches within the forest ecosystem, as the original Mesoamericans did.

Chocolate habitat - Chocolate to the rescue of Southern Bahia's unique and rich biodiversity by Annick Sullivan.  While chocolate lovers are fretting at higher candy prices and falling cacao tree productivity, conservationists are looking forward to the remedy: a shift in cacao tree cultivation, from large plantations to small cocoa farms.