The Southern Bahian Coastal Forest
In southern Bahia, the remaining coastal forests occupy a belt approximately 100-200 km wide along the Atlantic coast. The forests gradually become drier inland, changing from the littoral restinga forest to the southern Bahian moist forest (depending on geography and elevation, the moist forest may be tabuleiro forest, submontane forest, or montane forest), to semideciduous forest, to the deciduous liana forest ("Mata de Cipó) (Gouvêa et al. 1976, Mori 1989). Each of these forest types occupies a narrow zone up to 50 km wide within the coastal forest belt and varies in composition depending on elevation, soils, and drainage. Farther inland, the vegetation changes from forest to grassland (Cerrado) or dry thorn scrub (Caatinga). Above 600-700 m elevation, the forests become cooler and more humid and exhibit characteristics of montane forests. Within the southern Bahian moist forest zone, variation in soils and topography results in a patchwork of diverse micro-habitats within the superficially uniform forest.