Rio Ronuro Ecological Station

Rio Ronuro Ecological Station (Portuguese: Estação Ecológica do Rio Ronuro) is an ecological station in the state of Mato Grosso, 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.

Rio Ronuro Ecological Station
Map showing the location of Rio Ronuro Ecological Station
Map showing the location of Rio Ronuro Ecological Station
Nearest citySinop, Mato Grosso
Coordinates12°58′08″S 54°29′24″W
Area102,000 hectares (250,000 acres)
DesignationEcological station
Created23 April 1998

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 131,795 hectares (325,670 acres), in the municipality of Nova Ubiratã, Mato Grosso. The Xingu Indigenous Park is to the northeast of the unit. On 20 April 2005 the state legislative assembly reduced the area to 102,000 hectares (250,000 acres). The advisory council was formed on 12 April 2010.[1] The conservation unit is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.[2]

Environment

The Rio Ronuro Ecological Station (ESEC) is in the Xingu River basin, and is drained by the Santo Cristo, Hinternam, Von Den Steinen and Ronuro rivers. It is in the Amazon biome. The unit is in an area with an equatorial climate with a dry season in the winter. Average temperatures are above 25 °C (77 °F). Average annual rainfall is about 2,000 millimetres (79 in).[1] The landscape is relatively flat.[3] The ESEC would be in the proposed South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor.[4]

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 forest in the south and the contact zone between these biomes. Species found in the unit include giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), cougar (Puma concolor), jaguar (Panthera onca), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus). Rare endemic fauna includes catitas (marmosa species) and sauiás (proechimys species).[3]

Challenges

The unit is threatened by illegal logging, land clearance for agriculture, indiscriminate hunting and fires.[1] As of 2002 15% of the unit had been deforested. By 2005 that had risen to 20%.[5] A 2014 study of ten protected areas in Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará 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.[6]

Notes
    1. ESEC Rio Ronuro – ISA.
    2. Full list: PAs supported by ARPA.
    3. Estação Ecológica do Rio Ronuro – Via Rural.
    4. Ayres et al. 2005, p. 254.
    5. Roberta dos Santos et al. 2006, p. 10.
    6. Giovana Girardi 2014.

    Sources
    • Ayres, José Márcio; Da Fonseca, Gustavo A. B.; Rylands, Anthony B.; Queiroz, Helder L.; Pinto, Luiz Paulo; Masterson, Donald; Cavalcanti, Roberto B. (2005), Os Corredores Ecológicos das Florestas Tropicais do Brasil (PDF) (in Portuguese), Sociedade Civil Mamirauá, retrieved 2016-10-28
    • ESEC Rio Ronuro, ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-05-25
    • Estação Ecológica do Rio Ronuro (in Portuguese), Via Rural, retrieved 2016-05-25
    • Full list: PAs supported by ARPA, ARPA, retrieved 2016-08-07
    • Giovana Girardi (27 February 2014), "Reduzir area sobre protecao amplia desmatamento, diz estudo", Estadao (in Portuguese), retrieved 2016-05-25
    • Roberta dos Santos; Laurent Micol; Gustavo Irgang; Jane Vasconcellos (September 2006), O desmatamento nas Unidades de Conservação em Mato Grosso (PDF) (in Portuguese), Alta Floresta e Cuiabá: Instituto Centro de Vida - ICV, retrieved 2016-05-25
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