page_title: Serra do Mar
section_title: Natural history
hierarchical_section_title: Serra do Mar / Natural history
caption_attribution_description: Português: Vegetação da Mata Atlântica, ao redor do trecho de serra da rodovia Oswaldo Cruz. Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (Núcleo Picinguaba), Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brasil. English: Atlantic forest vegetation, around the mountainous stretch of the Oswaldo Cruz highway. Serra do Mar State Park (Picinguaba core), Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brazil.
context_page_description: Serra do Mar is a 1,500 km long system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeastern Brazil.
context_section_description: At the time of the European discovery of Brazil (1500), the Serra do Mar supported a rich and highly diversified ecosystem, composed mainly of lush tropical rain forest, called Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica). Due to urbanization and deforestation, however, most of the forest cover has been destroyed and what cover remains is almost exclusively on the steep escarpments facing the sea.
  A chain of national and state parks, ecological stations and biological reserves now protect the Mata Atlântica and its biological heritage, but acid rain, pollution, poachers, clandestine loggers, forest fires and encroachment by urban areas and farms are still causing active destruction, particularly in the areas around cities. Several large metropolises, such as Vale do Itajaí, Curitiba, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are near the Serra do Mar.
  Reforestation and recuperation of biological diversity are notoriously difficult to bring about in destroyed rain forest habitats.
caption: Atlantic Forest seen next to the Oswaldo Cruz highway, in Serra do Mar State Park, near Ubatuba.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5312", "Image ImageLength": "2988", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-N910C", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "N910CXXU2DRJ1", "Image DateTime": "2019:01:07 08:28:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "226", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "512", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "288", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "928", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "24448", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/455", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "40", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:01:07 08:28:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:01:07 08:28:40", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "883/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "227/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "711/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "227/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "24/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5312", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2988", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "31", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "H16LSHA00SM H16LSIG01SA"}