Cerrado

The Cerrado (Portuguese pronunciation: [seˈʁadu]) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the Brazilian highlands – the Planalto. The main habitat types of the Cerrado consist of forest savanna, wooded savanna, park savanna and gramineous-woody savanna. The Cerrado also includes savanna wetlands and gallery forests.
The second largest of Brazil's major habitat types, after the Amazonian rainforest, the Cerrado accounts for a full 21 percent of the country's land area (extending marginally into Paraguay and Bolivia). About 75% of the Cerrado’s 2 million km is privately owned.
Vast amounts of research have shown that the Cerrado is one of the richest of all tropical savanna regions and has high levels of endemism. Characterizing it by its enormous ranges of plant and animal biodiversity, World Wide Fund for Nature named the Cerrado the biologically richest savanna in the world, with about 10,000 plant species and 10 endemic bird species. There are nearly 200 species of mammal in the Cerrado, though only 14 are endemic. The large fraction of private ownership makes protection difficult though.
The Cerrado's climate is typical of the wetter savanna regions of the world, with a semi-humid tropical climate. The Cerrado is limited to two dominant seasons throughout the year: Wet and dry. Annual temperatures for the Cerrado average between 22 and 27 °C and average precipitation between 80–200 cm for over 90% of the area. This ecoregion has a very strong dry season during the southern winter (approx. April–September).
The Cerrado is characterized by unique vegetation types. It is composed of a shifting mosaic of habitats, with the savanna-like cerrado itself on well-drained areas between strips of gallery forest (closed canopy tall forest) which occur along streams. Between the cerrado and the gallery forest is an area of vegetation known as the wet campo with distinct up- and downslope borders where tree growth is inhibited due to wide seasonal fluctuations in the water table.
The savanna portion of the Cerrado is heterogeneous in terms of canopy cover. Goodland (1971) divided the Cerrado into four categories ranging from least to most canopy cover: campo sujo (herbaceous layer with occasional small trees about 3 m tall), campo cerrado (slightly higher density of trees about 4 m tall on average), cerrado sensu stricto (orchard-like vegetation with trees about 6 m high) and cerradão (canopy cover near 50% with general height 9 m).
Probably around 800 species of trees are found in the Cerrado. Among the most diverse families of trees in the Cerrado are the Leguminosae (153 spp.), Malpighiaceae (46), Myrtaceae (43), Melastomataceae (32), and Rubiaceae (30). Much of the Cerrado is dominated by the Vochysiaceae (23 species in the Cerrado) due to the abundance of three species in the genus Qualea. The herbaceous layer usually reaches about 60 cm in height and is composed mainly of the Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Leguminosae, Compositae, Myrtaceae and Rubiaceae. Much of the vegetation in the gallery forests is similar to nearby rainforest; however, there are some endemic species found only in the Cerrado gallery forests.
Soil fertility, fire regime and hydrology are thought to be most influential in determining Cerrado vegetation. Cerrado soils are always well-drained and most are oxisols with low pH and low calcium and magnesium. The amount of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus has been found to be positively correlated with tree trunk basal area in Cerrado habitats. Much as in other grasslands and savannas, fire is important in maintaining and shaping the Cerrado's landscape; many plants in the Cerrado are fire-adapted, exhibiting characters like thick corky bark to withstand the heat.
Cerrado vegetation is believed to be ancient, stretching back perhaps as far in a prototypic form as the Cretaceous, before Africa and South America separated. A dynamic expansion and contraction between cerrado and Amazonian rainforest has probably occurred historically, with expansion of the Cerrado during glacial periods like the Pleistocene. These processes and the resulting fragmentation in multiple refugia have probably contributed to the high species richness both of the Cerrado and of the Amazonian rainforest.
The Cerrado has a high diversity of vertebrates, with 150 amphibian species, 120 reptile species, 837 bird species, and 161 mammal species recorded. Lizard diversity is generally thought to be relatively low in the Cerrado compared to other areas like caatinga or lowland rainforest, although one recent study found 57 species in one cerrado area with the high diversity driven by the availability of open habitat. Ameiva ameiva is among the largest lizards found in the Cerrado and is the most important lizard predator where it is found in the Cerrado. There is a relatively high diversity of snakes in the Cerrado (22–61 species, depending on site) with Colubridae being the richest family. The open nature of the cerrado vegetation most likely contributes to the high diversity of snakes. Information about Cerrado amphibians is extremely limited, although the Cerrado probably has a unique assemblage of species with some endemic to the region.
Most birds found in the Cerrado breed there although there are some Austral migrants (breed in temperate South America and winter in the Amazon basin) and Nearctic migrants (breed in temperate North America and winter in the Neotropics) that pass through. Most breeding birds in the Cerrado are found in more closed canopy areas like gallery forests although 27% of the birds breed only in open habitats and 21% breed in either open or closed habitats. Many of the birds in the Cerrado, especially those found in closed forest, are related to species from the Atlantic rainforest and also the Amazon rainforest. The crowned solitary eagle, hyacinth macaw, toco toucan, buff-necked ibis, dwarf tinamou, and Brazilian merganser are examples of birds found in the Cerrado.
Gallery forests serve as primary habitat for most of the mammals in the Cerrado, having more water, being protected from fires that sweep the landscape and having a more highly structured habitat. Eleven mammal species are endemic to the Cerrado. Notable species include large herbivores like the Brazilian tapir and Pampas deer and large predators like the maned wolf, cougar, jaguar, giant otter, ocelot and jaguarundi. Although the diversity is much lower than in the adjacent Amazon and Atlantic Forest, several species of monkeys are present, including black-striped capuchin, black howler monkey and black-tufted marmoset.
The insects of the Cerrado are relatively understudied. A yearlong survey of the Cerrado at one reserve in Brazil found that the orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Isoptera accounted for 89.5% of all captures. The Cerrado also supports a high density (up to 4000 per hectare) of the nests of leaf cutter ants (saúvas), which are also very diverse. Along with termites, leaf cutter ants are the primary herbivores of the Cerrado and play an important role in consuming and decomposing organic matter, as well as constituting an important food source to many other animal species. The highest diversity of galling insects (insects that build galls) in the world is also found in the Cerrado, with the most species (46) found at the base of the Serra do Cipó in southeast Brazil.
The first detailed European account of the Brazilian cerrados was provided by Danish botanist Eugenius Warming (1892) in the book Lagoa Santa, in which he describes the main features of the cerrado vegetation in the state of Minas Gerais.
Taking advantage of the sprouting of the herbaceous stratum that follows a burning in the Cerrado, the aboriginal inhabitants of these regions learned to use the fire as a tool, to increase the fodder to offer to their domesticated animals.
Xavantes, Tapuias [pt], Karajás, Avá-Canoeiros, Krahôs, Xerentes, Xacriabás were some of the first indigenous peoples occupying different regions in the Cerrado. Many groups among the indigenous were nomads and explored the Cerrado by hunting and collecting. Others practiced coivara agriculture, an itinerant type of slash-and-burn agriculture. The mixing of indigenous, quilombola maroon communities, extractivists, geraizeiros (living in the drier regions), riverbank dwellers and vazanteiros (living on floodplains) shaped a diverse local population that relies heavily on the resources of their environment.
Until the mid-1960s, agricultural activities in the Cerrado were very limited, since natural cerrado soils are not fertile enough for crop production, directed mainly at the extensive production of beef cattle for subsistence of the local market. After this period, however, the urban and industrial development of the Southeast Region has forced agriculture to the Central-West Region. The transfer of the country's capital to Brasília has been another focus of attraction of population to the central region: From 1975 until the beginning of the 1980s, many governmental subsidy programs were launched to promote agriculture, with the intent of stimulating the development of the Cerrado region. As a result, there has been a significant increase in agricultural and cattle production.
On the other hand, the urban pressure and the rapid establishment of agricultural activities in the region have been rapidly reducing the biodiversity of the ecosystems, and the population in the Cerrado region more than doubled from 1970 to 2010, going from 35.8 to 76 million.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil's agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equaling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area. Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand.
Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize, and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of eucalyptus and pines, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
Charcoal production for Brazil's steel industry comes in second to agriculture in the Cerrado. They actually are quite intertwined. When land is being cleared to make more land for agriculture, the tree's trunks and roots are often used in the production of charcoal, helping to make money for the clearing. The Brazilian steel industry has traditionally always used the trunks and roots from the Cerrado for charcoal but now that the steel mills in the state of Minas Gerais are among the world's largest, it has taken a much higher toll on the Cerrado. However, recently because of the conservation efforts and the diminishing vegetation in the Cerrado, they now are receiving some charcoal from the eucalyptus plantations and these efforts are growing.
The Cerrado biome is strategic for the water resources of Brazil. The biome contains the headwaters and the largest portion of South American watersheds (the Paraná-Paraguay, Araguaia-Tocantins, and São Francisco river basins) and the upper catchments of large Amazon tributaries, such as the Xingu and Tapajós. During the last four decades, the Cerrado’s river basins have been highly impacted by extreme deforestation, expansion of the agricultural and cattle ranching frontier, construction of dams, and extraction of water for irrigation.
The Cerrado is the second largest biome in South America and the most biodiverse savanna in the world. However, it is not currently recognized by the Brazilian Constitution as a National Heritage. It is also home to the Guarani Aquifer, stores the largest fresh water underground reservoirs in South America, and supplies water to a third of the Amazon river and the largest basins in the continent.
Brazilian agriculturalists and ministers regard it as having no conservation value, and the government has protected merely 1.5% of the Cerrado biome in Federal Reserves. By 1994, an estimated 695,000 km of the Cerrado (representing 35% of its area) had been converted to 'anthropic [sic] landscape'. In total, 37.3% of the Cerrado has already been totally converted to human use, while an additional 41.4% is used for pasture and charcoal production. The gallery forests in the region have been among the most heavily affected. It is estimated that only about 432,814 km, or 21.3% of the original vegetation, remains intact today. Devegetation continues to occur throughout the biome at an alarming rate, and projections indicate that if this continues, another 31-34% of the remaining biome will be cleared by 2050.
During the last 25 years this biome has been increasingly threatened by industrial monoculture farming, particularly soybeans, the unregulated expansion of industrial agriculture, the burning of vegetation for charcoal and the development of dams to provide irrigation are drawing criticisms and have been identified as potential threats to several Brazilian rivers.
This industrial farming of the Cerrado, with the clearing of land for eucalyptus and soy plantations, has grown so much because of various forms of subsidy, including very generous tax incentives and low interest loans. This has resulted in the establishment of a highly mechanized, capital intensive system of agriculture. There is also a strong agribusiness lobby in Brazil and in particular, the production of soybeans in the Cerrado is influenced by large corporations such as ADM, Cargill and Bunge, these latter two directly associated with the mass deforestation of this biome.
One issue with expanding this reserve is that research needs to be done to choose the location of these reserves because the Cerrado biome is floristically very heterogeneous and constitutes a biological mosaic. Teams from the University of Brasília, CPAC and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh have been collaborating on this project for a number of years supported by Brazilian, European Community and British funds. The project has recently been expanded into a major Anglo-Brazilian initiative, Conservation and Management of the Biodiversity of the Cerrado Biome, with UK Overseas Development Administration funding. Its aim is to survey the floristic patterns of Cerrado vegetation and to discover representative areas and biodiversity "hot-spots".
According to Brazil's National Registry of Conservation Units (Portuguese: Castrado Nacional de Unidades de Conservação), there are, as of November 2024, 560 protected areas within the Cerrado biome. In Brazil, protected areas are known as conservation units, and those in the Cerrado account for 19% of all units in the country. While a 2017 assessment found that 433,581 km, or 23%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas, in total, these registered conservation units make up roughly 17.96 Mha of land, which represents about 9% of the total area of the Cerrado.
The first protected area in the Brazilian Cerrado was the Paraobepa National Forest which was established in 1950. Until the early 1990’s, the progression of the network was slow, with only a handful of protected areas established each year. During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s there was a boom of new protected areas, which coincides with the passing of Law No. 9.985, of July 18, 2000. This law established the National System of Nature Conservation Units (SNUC) and defines the concepts for the creation and management of conservation units in Brazil, marking the beginning of their legal regulation. Between 1997 and 2006, a total of 179 conservation units were established in the Cerrado, accounting for almost one third of the entire current network. Since this boom, the rate at which new conservation units are created each year has slowed down but varies considerably from year to year.
Protected areas in Brazil are called conservation units (UC) and are governed by the National System of Nature Conservation Units (SNUC). The SNUC itself is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
There are two groups of conservation units in Brazil, namely Integral Protection (IP) and Sustainable Protection (SP). Integral protection units exist to protect nature, and use of their resources is limited to recreation and tourism. Sustainable protection units aim to reconcile the conservation of nature with the sustainable use of its natural resources. Out of the 560 conservation units in the Cerrado, there are 176 integral protection units and 384 sustainable protection units. Within each type of conservation unit, there exist several categories, which are each associated with a category of the IUCN protected area classification system.
All categories of conservation units can exist at the federal, state, or municipal level. Federal conservation units are managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). In the Cerrado biome, there are currently 241 federally managed conservation units, which make up 6.41 Mha of land. State conservation units are managed by state environmental agencies. There are currently 210 conservation units managed at the state level in the Cerrado, which make up 10.15 Mha of land. Municipal conservation units are managed by the municipal environmental secretariats. There are currently 109 conservation units managed at the municipal level in the Cerrado, spanning roughly 1.41 Mha of land.
IUCN Category Ia
An area where scientific research and the preservation of nature are the main goals. Visitation by the public is restricted to educational purposes. As of 2024, there are 24 ecological stations in the Cerrado biome, covering 916.4 kha of land. An example of an ecological station in the Cerrado is the Serra Geral do Tocantins Ecological Station, which is the largest in the biome.
IUCN Category Ia
The main goal of biological reserves is to preserve biodiversity. The only interventions allowed are actions to recover ecosystems, restore balance and preserve biodiversity. Visitation is allowed only for education purposes. As of 2024, there are 6 biological reserves in the Cerrado, covering 8,196 ha of land. An example is the Culuene Biological Reserve, which is the largest in the biome.
IUCN Category II
National Parks exist to preserve ecosystems that are ecologically significant and their beauty. Visitation is less restricted, as recreational, educational, and environmental interpretation activities take place within National Parks. Scientific research is also active within these areas. As of 2024, there are 116 National Parks in the Cerrado, covering 4.37 Mha of land. An example is the Araguaia National Park, which is the oldest in the biome having been created in 1959.
IUCN Category III
Unique, rare and scenic natural sites are preserved here. Visitors are allowed in natural monument areas, as long as the activity aligns with the objectives of the unit. As of 2024, there are 18 Natural Monuments in the Cerrado, making up 46 kha of land. An example of a Natural Monument is the Tocantins Fossil Trees Natural Monument, which is the largest in the biome.
IUCN Category III
Wildlife refuges protect natural environments to ensure the persistence and reproduction of species or communities of local flora and fauna. Visitors are allowed for various activities. As of 2024, there are 12 Wildlife Refuges in the Cerrado, making up 261 kha of land. An example is the Corixão de Mata Azul Wildlife Refuge, which is the oldest in the biome having been created in 2001.
IUCN Category V
APAs have particular natural, aesthetic, and cultural qualities that are important to the human population. These areas are usually extensive and aim to protect biodiversity, manage the occupation of humans and promote the sustainable use of the area’s natural resources. As of 2024, there are 114 Environmental Protection Areas in the Cerrado, making up 11.9 Mha of land. An example is the Baixada Maranhense Environmental Protection Area, which is the largest in the biome.
IUCN Category IV
Generally consisting of a small area, these units aim to preserve regionally or locally important ecosystems that have unique characteristics. These areas usually have little to no human occupation and can exist on public or private land. As of 2024, there are 22 Areas of Relevant Ecological Interest in the Cerrado, making up 11.4 kha of land. An example is the Cerrado Pé de Gigante Area of Relevant Ecological Interest.
IUCN Category VI
National Forests are areas with natural forest cover that consist mainly of native species. The sustainable and multiple use of resources as well as scientific research are the primary goals of these units. Traditional populations are permitted to retain their permanence in National Forests. As of 2024, there are 11 National Forests in the Cerrado, making up 51.6 kha of land. An example is the Cristópolis National Forest, which is the second largest in the biome.
IUCN Category VI
While publicly owned, traditional populations may occupy extractive reserves to support their lifestyle based on extractivism, subsistence farming and small animal husbandry. These areas prioritize the sustainable use of their resources as well as the protection of the culture of these populations. Scientific research can also occur here, and visitors are permitted. As of 2024, there are 7 extractive reserves in the Cerrado, making up 100 kha of land. An example is the Chapada Limpa Extractive Reserve.
IUCN Category VI
Similar to extractive reserves, traditional populations occupy these areas. The sustainable systems of exploitation these populations have developed over generations are the main focus of sustainable development reserves.Scientific research may also occur in these units, and visitors are permitted. As of 2024, there are 2 sustainable development reserves in the Cerrado, making up 97.3 kha of land. These are the Nascentes Geraizeiras and the Veredas do Acari Sustainable Development Reserves.
IUCN Category IV
These are privately-owned areas that aim to conserve biodiversity. A number of activities are permitted in these units, namely scientific research, tourism, recreation and education. As of 2024, there are 228 private natural heritage reserves in the Cerrado, making up 111.1 kha of land. An example is the Buraco das Araras Private Natural Heritage Reserve.
Protected areas in Brazil include:
as well as Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia.
Two conservation units in the Cerrado biome have been designated together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks. Together they are known by UNESCO as the Cerrado Protected Areas, making up 38.14 kha of land. These conservation units were inscribed by UNESCO in 2001 for two main reasons. Firstly, the units are centrally localized and have varying altitudes, making them robust areas of refuge for species. Secondly, the units excellently represent the biodiversity of the Cerrado biome, with more than 60% of all plant species and almost 80% of all vertebrate species that exist in the region. Many endangered species occur in these units, making them important targets for conservation.
Both Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas are National Parks that are federally managed. As National Parks, they are registered as integral protection units and benefit from strict regulations preventing the direct use of their resources. Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park was established in 1961 and comprises 240 kha of land. Its area overlaps with the Environmental Protection Area of Pouso Alto, which is a sustainable protection conservation unit that was established in 2001. Emas National Park was established in 1961, and it makes up 132 kha of land. Its management focuses on preventing the negative effects of the agricultural area that almost completely surrounds it.
Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of protected areas in the Cerrado given the small proportion of land they cover and their varying degrees of strictness. Overlapping conservation units is an area of particular interest given the redundancy of the same area being protected and the possibility of management conflicts. In 2020, almost 40% of all conservation units in the Cerrado had some overlap with other units. A total of 64 conservation units were completely within other units. Most of these were areas of ecological interest within environmental protection areas, which are both sustainable protection units.
When they are created, each conservation unit in Brazil should be assigned a management plan which outlines the conservation practices that will take place within the unit as well as a management council to guide its conservation. The management plan establishes a number of guidelines and rules necessary for the management of the conservation unit. This includes the zoning of the area, in which the conservation unit is divided into different sections categorized by their required degrees of protection. The management council is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the management plan and acts as a link between local populations and stakeholders with economic or environmental priorities. As of 2024, almost 40% of all conservation units registered in the Cerrado do not have a management plan and about 60% do not have a management council.
Some studies have evaluated the effectiveness of protected areas in the Cerrado depending on their strictness. Sustainable protection units, which are less strict as biodiversity conservation is not their primary goal, have been found to be ineffective against deforestation. In 2015, 85% of all protected areas in the Cerrado, excluding private natural heritage reserves, were environmental protected areas, which are sustainable protection units. Integral protection units in the Cerrado are the most efficient in biodiversity protection in terms of reducing deforestation and maintaining species richness.
Conservation units should be representative of the biome they protect. In 2015, only two thirds of protected areas corresponded to remaining native vegetation in the Cerrado, with the other one third representing deforested areas within different conservation units. Despite this, protected areas have been found to be effective in representing both ecosystem services and biodiversity of the Cerrado.
Privately owned land is essential for conservation efforts as the majority of remaining native vegetation in the Cerrado occurs in private properties and farms. In 2019, private lands held 57.9% of the remaining native vegetation in the Cerrado. Brazil’s Forest Code requires land owners to retain 20% of native vegetation as Legal Reserves on their properties in all biomes except the Amazon, where the number is 80%. Legal Reserves in the Cerrado are essential for biodiversity protection, as about 13% of the distribution range of threatened species exist within them. Changes made to the Forest Code in 2012 legally allow almost 40 Mha of extra native vegetation to be cleared on top of the original allowance. In 2017, this amounted to 40% of remaining native vegetation in the biome legally able to be converted.
Compliance with the Forest Code by landowners is an issue in the Cerrado as some consider the legislation to be a roadblock for agricultural development. There are measures in place to increase compliance, such as the Rural Environmental Registry System (CAR), which is a documentation system of environmental information of millions of rural properties that facilitates their monitoring and management. Monetary incentives are also offered by the Brazilian government in the form of the Low-Carbon Agriculture (ABC) program to promote sustainable agriculture and forest restoration.
Indigenous lands (IL) remain an important sector for biodiversity conservation in the Cerrado. The government of Brazil has recognized 4.8% of the Cerrado’s area as IL. In 2019, 6.72% of remaining native vegetation occurred within IL, compared to the 2.27% that was preserved within conservation units. Indigenous lands also effectively represent the ecosystem services and biodiversity characteristic of the Cerrado biome and are efficient in reducing habitat conversion and deforestation.