It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Sertão. (Discuss)

Caatinga is a type of vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in the northeastern part of Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (kaa = forest, vegetation, tínga = white). It covers between 700,000 km² and 1,000,000 km² (depending on the source), over 10% of the Brazil's territory. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... In Brazil, the sertão (meaning backland in Portuguese) refers to the semi-arid region comprising parts of the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Piauí. The plural of sertão is sertões. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Tupi is the name of one of the main ethnic groups of Brazilian indigenous people, together with the related Guarani. ...

Caatinga is a xeric shrubland and thorn forest, which consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally. Cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush, and arid-adapted grasses make up the ground layer. Many annual plants grow, flower, and die during the brief rainy season. In isolation, Hawaiis Silverswords have adapted to xeric microclimates within volcanic craters, trapping and channeling dew and protecting leaves with reflective hairs. ...

Setting

Caatinga covers the northeast portion of Brazil. It is located between 3°S 45°W and 17°S 35°W, extending across eight states of Brazil: Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and parts of Minas Gerais. The Caatinga includes several enclaves of humid tropical forest, known as the Caatinga enclaves moist forests. Piauí is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, in the arid region of Sertão. ... Flag of Ceará See other Brazilian States Capital Fortaleza Largest City Fortaleza Area 148,016 km² Population   - Total   - Density 6,500,000 43. ... Flag of Rio Grande do Norte See other Brazilian States Capital Natal Largest City Natal Area 53,015 km² Population   - Total   - Density 2,770,730 52. ... Flag of Paraíba See other Brazilian States Capital João Pessoa Largest City João Pessoa Area 56. ... Flag of Pernambuco See other Brazilian States Capital Recife Largest City Recife Area 98,281 km² Population   - Total   - Density 7,918,344 80. ... Flag of Alagoas See other Brazilian States Capital Maceió Largest City Maceió Area 27 818 km² Population   - Total   - Density 2 822 621 101. ... Flag of Sergipe See other Brazilian States Capital Aracaju Largest City Aracaju Area 21,994 km² Population   - Total   - Density 1,712,786 77. ... Flag of Bahia See other Brazilian States Capital Salvador Largest City Salvador Area 564 273 km² Population   - Total   - Density 13 070 250 23. ... Flag of Minas Gerais See other Brazilian States Capital Belo Horizonte Largest City Belo Horizonte Area 586,528. ... The Caatinga enclaves moist forests are a tropical moist forest ecoregion of northeastern brazil, which forms a series of discontinuous, island-like enclaves in the dry Caatingas xeric shrubland and thorn forests and Cerrado savannas. ...

The Caatinga is bounded by the Maranhão Babaçu forests to the northwest, the Atlantic dry forests and the Cerrado savannas to the west and southwest, the humid Atlantic forests along the Atlantic coast to the east, and by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and northeast. The Maranhão Babaçu forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of north-central Brazil. ... The Atlantic dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of eastern Brazil. ... The cerrado (Portuguese: thick, dense) is a vast area of savanna-like grasslands in Brazil. ... Araucaria moist forest in Curitiba, Paraná The Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica in Portuguese) is a region of tropical and subtropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, tropical savannas, and mangrove forests which extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the north to Rio...

Caatinga is pronounced Cachinga. Caatinga is a very dry place in Brazil. The Few people there have very little water and very little food. The water they do have is most often dirty and people can die from drinking it. Lots of droughts occur in caatinga. The poverty in caatinga is awful.

Climate

The Caatinga has only two distinguishable seasons. These are the winter, when it is very hot and dry, and the summer when it is hot and rainy. During the dry winter periods there is no foliage or undergrowth. The vegetation is very dry and the roots begin to protrude through the surface of the stony soil. They do this in order to absorb water before it is evaporated. All leaves fall off the trees to reduce transpiration in order to lessen the amount of water that is lost in the dry season. During the peak periods of drought the Caatinga's soil can reach temperatures of up to 60 °C. With all the foliage and undergrowth dead during the drought periods and all the trees having no leaves the Caatinga has a grey, desert-like look. Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ... Summer is a season that is astronomically defined as beginning around June 21, and ending around September 23 in the Northern Hemisphere. ... This article is about the leaf, a plant organ. ... Transpiration is the evaporation of water from aerial parts of plants, especially leaves but also stems, flowers and fruits. ...

The drought ends at the end of the year and it begins to rain in the new year. With the coming of rain, the grey, desert-like landscape starts to transform into a much greener land. Small plants start growing in the now moist soil and trees grow back their green leaves. At this time the waters in the rivers start to fill up and the streams begin to flow again. The parts of the river that were dried out now have flowing water again.

Flora

The Caatinga can be separated by vegetation types into eight different areas. The Caatinga forest has deciduous tropic broadleaved trees. The forest canopy covers about 60% of the ground. This type of vegetation is present in wetter areas with more rainfall. The arborescent area is an area mainly of shrubs with some trees with less than 60% coverage. Aborescent-shrubby closed Caatinga is forest with closed shrub and three coverage less than 60%. Aborescent-shrubby open Caatinga is similar but with more shrubs and cacti. In the shrubby closed Caatinga scrub is more common. The shrubby open Caatinga areas occur on shallow soils and rocky outcrops; this area contains trees, cacti and bromeliads. The Caatinga savanna is areas with some trees and some scrub. The rocky Caatinga savanna contains less than 10% coverage of tropical scrub; these plants are protruding from cracks in rocks and pavements. hiii, This article is on plants. ... For other uses, see Tree (disambiguation). ... Genera See Taxonomy of the Cactaceae A cactus (plural cactus, cacti, or cactuses) is any member of the succulent plant family Cactaceae. ... Genera See text Bromeliads include epiphytes, such as Spanish moss, and ground plants, such as the Pineapple. ... Savanna at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. ...

People use many plant species from the Caatinga region. Palms are very important to the economy in northeast Brazil. People from this area are greatly dependent on extraction from babassu, carnaúba, tucúm and macaúba, from which lauric and oleic oils are made from. Many trees are also used for lumber in this area, including these species: Anadenanthera macrocarpa, Ziziphus joazeiro, Amburana cearensis, Astronium fraxinifolium, Astronium urundeuva, Tabebuia impetiginosa, Tabebuia caraiba, and Schinopsis brasiliensis, Cedrela odorata, Dalbergia variabilis, Didymopanax morototoni and Pithecellobium polycephalum. Some plants are also used for medical purposes. Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (also known as Palmae or Palmaceae), the palm family, is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order Arecales. ... Binomial name Orbignya phalerata Mart. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Binomial name Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell. ... Binomial name Astronium fraxinifolium Schott Astronium fraxinifolium (Goncalo alves) is a timber tree, which is native to Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, and Cerrado vegetation in Brazil. ... Binomial name Myracrodruon urundeuva M.Allemão Myracrodruon urundeuva (Portuguese common names: aroeira-do-sertão, urundeúva, aroeira preta, urindeúva, arindeúva; syn. ... Binomial name Cedrela odorata L. Cedrela odorata (Cedro-cheiroso) is a tree semicaducifolio in our climate, monoecious, 10-15 m high, going so far as to reach 30 m in his zones of origin, of rounded and dense glass and trunk with the thick crust, of color gray - brown, with...

See also: List of plants of Caatinga vegetation of Braziland poo on pink flowery sofas while listening to late noght radio on your local radio station.

This is a list of plants found in the wild in Caatinga vegetation of Brazil. ...

Fauna

The Caatinga is home to several endemic species of birds, including Lear's Macaw or Indigo Macaw (Anodorhynchus leari), Spix's Macaw or Little Blue Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), and Moustached Woodcreeper (Xiphocolaptes falcirostris). Binomial name Anodorhynchus leari Bonaparte, 1856 The Lears Macaw, Anodorhynchus leari, (also more commonly known as the Indigo Macaw) is a Brazilian parrot with a highly restricted range. ... Binomial name Cyanopsitta spixii (Wagler, 1832) The Spixs Macaw, Cyanopsitta spixii, was a Brazilian parrot, the only member of the genus Cyanopsitta. ...

People

The poorest population in Brazil lives in the northeast. Over 60 million people survive on the minimal vegetation of the Caatinga^{[citation needed]}. A very large part of the population depends on agricultural or forest industries for over half of their income. Harvesting of the caraiba woodland for lumber has reduced its size. This reduction may have contributed to the endangerment of the Spix's Macaw.

Agriculture

In some places the Caatinga has very fertile soils. Inhabitants plant fruits in the fertile soil to process and eat, sell and export. Some regions are being irrigated, most notably the São Francisco River. This is very good news for farmers, although salinization of the soil is becoming a threat since the land is irrigated with saline water. If there is a surplus in goods as a result of the new irrigation this area will start exporting a lot more products outside of Brazil. The farms along the São Francisco River are currently exporting grapes, papayas and melons. Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... The São Francisco River is a river in Brazil with a length of 3,160 kilometres. ... Species Vitis acerifolia Vitis aestivalis Vitis amurensis Vitis arizonica Vitis x bourquina Vitis californica Vitis x champinii Vitis cinerea Vitis x doaniana Vitis girdiana Vitis labrusca Vitis x labruscana Vitis lincecumii Vitis monticola Vitis mustangensis Vitis x novae-angliae Vitis palmata Vitis riparia Vitis rotundifolia Vitis rupestris Vitis shuttleworthii Vitis... Binomial name Carica papaya L. The papaya, also known as mamão, tree melon, fruta bomba, lechosa (Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic), or pawpaw is the fruit of the tree Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. ... Binomial name Cucumis melo L. The melon is the fruit and plant of a typically vine-like (climber and trailer) herb that was first cultivated more than 4000 years ago (~ 2000 BC) in Persia and Africa. ...

Having and using all these resources has some negatives. Intensive agriculture, along with excessive grazing by cattle and goats is affecting the population structure of some of the more important plant and animal species. Deforesting for industrial uses like fuel and charcoal destroys the vegetation. The combination of drought and misuse of the land are becoming a major threat. If these practices continue at the current rate, desertification is possible. Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Species See Species and subspecies The goat is a mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Fuel is any material that is capable of releasing energy when its chemical or physical structure is changed or converted. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. ...

See also

• Sertão

In Brazil, the sertão (meaning backland in Portuguese) refers to the semi-arid region comprising parts of the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Piauí. The plural of sertão is sertões. ...

External links

• Caatinga (World Wildlife Fund)
• IBAMA
• Brazil Nature
• Caatinga: Brazilian national heritage threatened