Pantanal

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Pantanal

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland

Wetland

File:Mangrove trees in Everglades.JPGA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water....
in South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, mostly within the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
ian states of Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso is one of the States of Brazil of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rond?nia, Amazonas State, Brazil, Par?, Tocantins State, Goi?s and Mato Grosso do Sul....
and Mato Grosso do Sul

Mato Grosso do Sul

Mato Grosso do Sul is one of the States of Brazil of Brazil.Neighbouring states are Mato Grosso, Goi?s, Minas Gerais, S?o Paulo and Paran? ....
, and also portions in Bolivia

Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
and Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the only two landlocked countries in South America . It lies on both banks of the Paraguay River and is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest....
. It is an area consisting of a variety of floodplain sub-regions, each with distinct hydrological, geological and ecological characteristics; in fact, up to twelve of these hydrological ecosystems have been defined (RADAMBRASIL 1982 ). In total the Pantanal covers between 140,000 km² to , making it the largest wetland in the world.

Over 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons, nurturing one of the world's most biologically diverse

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems....
collection of aquatic plant

Aquatic plant

Aquatic plants — also called hydrophytic plants or hydrophytes — are plants that have adapted to living in or on aquatic environments....
s.

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Encyclopedia

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland

Wetland

South America

Brazil

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso do Sul

Mato Grosso do Sul is one of the States of Brazil of Brazil.Neighbouring states are Mato Grosso, Goi?s, Minas Gerais, S?o Paulo and Paran? ....
, and also portions in Bolivia

Bolivia

Paraguay

Biodiversity

Aquatic plant

Aquatic plants — also called hydrophytic plants or hydrophytes — are plants that have adapted to living in or on aquatic environments....
s. It is also dense in animal

Fauna

File:Fauna.pngFauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoology and paleontology use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g....
species. It is often overshadowed by the neighboring Amazon Rainforest

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon rainforest , also known as Amazonia, or the Amazon jungle, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America....
, but is an equally important ecosystem.

The name "Pantanal" comes from the Portuguese word pântano meaning wetland, bog, swamp or marsh. By comparison, the Brazilian highlands are locally referred to as the planalto, plateau or, literally, high plain.

Ecology and Hydrology

Floodplain ecosystems such as the Pantanal are defined by their seasonal inundation and desiccation

Desiccation

Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately-well sealed container....
. They shift between phases of standing water and phases of dry soil, when the water table can be well below the root region. Soils range from high levels of sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
in higher areas to higher amounts of clay

Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
and silt

Silt

Silt is soil or Rock derived granular material of a Particle size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body....
in riverine areas.

Elevation of the Pantanal ranges from above sea-level. Annual rainfall over the flood basin is between with most rainfall occurring between November and March. In the Paraguay River

Paraguay River

The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil and Paraguay and running close to the border between Brazil and Bolivia as well as being the border between Paraguay and Argentina....
portion of the Pantanal water levels rise between two meters to five meters seasonally; water fluctuations in other parts of the Pantanal are less than this. Flood waters tend to flow slowly ( per second) due to the low gradients and high resistance offered by the dense vegetation.

When rising river waters first contacts previously dry soil the waters become oxygen-depleted, rendering the water environs anoxic. Many natural fish kills can occur if there are no oxygenated water refuges available (the reason for this remains speculative: it may be due to the growth of toxin

Toxin

A toxin is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms. For a toxic substance not produced by living organisms, "toxicant" is the more appropriate term, and "toxics" is an acceptable plural....
-producing bacteria in the de-oxygenated water rather than as a direct result of lack of oxygen (McClain 2002)).

Geography

The Pantanal is a huge gently-sloped basin that receives runoff from the upland areas (the Planalto highlands

Mato Grosso Plateau

The Mato Grosso Plateau is a plateau in central Brazil occupying most of the state of Mato Grosso. It contains mostly Savanna and woodland. It is an ancient erosional plateau that extends from the border of Goi?s state westward to the Serra dos Parecis, which lies near the Bolivian border....
) and slowly releases the water through the Paraguay River

Paraguay River

The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil and Paraguay and running close to the border between Brazil and Bolivia as well as being the border between Paraguay and Argentina....
and tributaries. The formation is a result of the large concave pre-Andean depression of the earth’s crust, related to the Andean orogeny

Orogeny

Orogeny refers to natural mountain building, and may be studied as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and a chronological event: orogenic events cause distinctive structural phenomena and related tectonic activity, affect certain regions of rocks and crust, and happen within a specific period of time....
of the Tertiary

Tertiary

The Tertiary is a a term for a Geologic time scale#Terminology 65 million to 1.8 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and an out-of-date definition of the Neogene#Controversy....
. It constitutes an enormous internal river delta

River delta

A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river....
, in which several rivers flowing from the surrounding plateau merge, depositing their sediments

Sedimentation

Sedimentation describes the motion of molecules in solutions or particle s in suspension in response to an external force such as gravitation, centrifugal force or electromagnetism....
and erosion residues, which have been filling, throughout the years, the large depression area of the Pantanal. This area is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger Parana-Paraguay Plain area.

The Pantanal is bounded by the Chiquitano dry forests

Chiquitano dry forests

The Chiquitano dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion in Bolivia and Brazil....
to the west and northwest, by the Arid Chaco dry forests to the southwest, and the Humid Chaco to the south. The Cerrado

Cerrado

The cerrado is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil. The cerrado is characterised by an enormous range of plant and animal biodiversity....
savannas lie to the north, east, and southeast. The Pantanal has an average yearly rainfall of 1,000-1,400 mm (40-55 in), but is fed by the upper Paraguay River. Its average temperature is , but temperatures can fluctuate from 0 to 40 °C (32 to 104 °F).

During the rainy season the water in the Pantanal basin rises between two and five meters. Just as the Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
delta is fertile farmable land, so to is the Pantanal plains. the dramatic increase of water during the rainy season nourishes the producers of Pantanal, which in turn nourishes all the other species as well. Humans have taken advantage of this so much that it has become a problem.

Flora

The vegetation of the Pantanal is often referred to as the "Pantanal complex

Complex

A complex is a whole that comprehends a number of intricate parts, especially one with interconnected or mutually related parts.Complex may refer to:...
" and is a mixture of plant communities typical of a variety of surrounding biome

Biome

Biomes are Climateally and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions such as Community of plants, animals, and Soil biology, and are often referred to as ecosystems....
regions: these include moist tropical Amazonian rainforest plants, semi-arid woodland plants typical of northeast Brazil, Brazilian cerrado
Cerrado

The cerrado is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil. The cerrado is characterised by an enormous range of plant and animal biodiversity....
savanna plants and plants of the Chaco savannas of Bolivia and Paraguay. Forests usually occur at higher altitudes of the region, while grasslands cover the seasonally inundated areas. The key limiting factors for growth are inundation and, even more importantly, water-stress during the dry season. The Pantanal ecosystem is home to 3500 known plant species.

Fauna

The Pantanal ecosystem is also thought to be home to 1000 bird species, 400 fish species (including the piranha

Piranha

A piranha or pira?a is a member of a family of omnivorous freshwater fish which live in South American rivers. In Venezuelan rivers they are called caribes....
), 300 mammalian species, and 480 reptile species.

Among the rarest animals to inhabit the wetland of the Pantanal are the Marsh Deer

Marsh Deer

The Marsh Deer, Blastocerus dichotomus , is the largest deer species from South America reaching a length of 2 meters and a height of 1.2 meters at the rump....
(Blastocerus dichotomus) and the Giant River Otter

Giant Otter

The Giant Otter is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family, a globally successful group of predators....
(Pteroneura brasiliensis). Parts of the Pantanal are also home to the following endangered or threatened species: the Hyacinth Macaw

Hyacinth Macaw

Native to central and eastern South America, the Hyacinth Macaw , or Hyacinthine Macaw, is the largest macaw and the largest flying parrot species in the world, though the flightless Kakapo of New Zealand can outweigh it at up to 3.5kg....
(Anodorhyncus hyacinthinus) (a bird endangered due smuggling), the Crowned Solitary Eagle

Crowned Solitary Eagle

The Crowned Solitary Eagle , typically known simply as the Crowned Eagle is an endangered bird of prey from eastern and central South America....
, the jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a New World Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World....
(Panthera onca), the Maned Wolf

Maned Wolf

The Maned Wolf is the largest canidae of South America, resembling a big fox with reddish fur.This mammal is found in open and semi-open habitats, especially grasslands with scattered bushes and trees, in south-eastern Brazil , Paraguay, northern Argentina, Bolivia east and north of the Andes, and far south-eastern Peru ....
(Chrysocyon brachyurus), the Bush Dog

Bush Dog

The Bush Dog is a canid found in Central America and South America, including Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru , Ecuador, the Guianas, Paraguay, Ordinal direction Argentina , and Brazil ....
(Speothos venaticus), the Capybara

Capybara

Capybara , also known as capibara, chig?ire in Venezuela, chig?iro, and carpincho in Spanish language, and capivara in Portuguese language, is the largest living rodent in the world....
(Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), the South American Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the Giant Anteater

Giant Anteater

.The Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, is the largest species of anteater. It is found in Central America and South America. It is the only species in the Myrmecophaga genus....
(Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and the Yacare Caiman

Yacare Caiman

The Yacare Caiman is a species of Caiman found in central South America, including northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, south-west Brazil , and the rivers of Paraguay....
(Caiman yacare).

The majority of the biomass of fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
species in the Paraguay-Parana river system generally comprise of a few species whose mode of feeding is classed as "dentrivory". Dentrivores primarily ingest fine particles from sediments and plant surfaces. This is characteristic of fish living in South American flood-plains in general. Fish migration between river channels and flood-plain regions occurs seasonally. These fish have many adaptation

Adaptation

Adaptation is the process, which takes place under natural selection, whereby an organism becomes better suited to its habitat. Also, the term may refer to some characteristic which stands out as being especially significant in the organism's survival....
s that allow them to survive in the oxygen-depleted flood-plain waters.

In addition to the caiman, the following reptiles inhabit the Pantanal: the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus
Eunectes notaeus

Eunectes notaeus is a non-venomous Boinae species found in South America. No subspecies are currently recognized....
), the Gold tegu

Gold tegu

The 'gold tegu', also known as 'common tegu', 'black tegu' and 'Columbian tegu', is a species of tegu. Its scientific name 'Tupinambis teguixin' was long believed to apply to the Argentine Black and White Tegu which is now T....
(Tupinambis teguixin), the red-footed tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria) and the Green Iguana

Green Iguana

The green iguana or common iguana is a large, arboreal herbivory species of lizard of the genus Iguana native to Central America and South America....
(Iguana Iguana).

Threats to the Pantanal

The Pantanal region includes essential sanctuaries for migratory birds, critical nursery grounds for aquatic life, and refuges for such creatures as the black caiman, deer, and jaguar.

The main human activities which threaten the Pantanal ecosystems are:

Commercial fishing

Fishing is focussed on only a few species and is probably not sustainable.

National and international sport fishing

The Paraguay river and its tributaries are the main focus for fishing activities.

Cattle-ranching

Approximately 99% of the land in the Pantanal is privately owned for the purpose of agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
and ranching .
There are 2500 fazenda
Fazenda

Fazenda is a Portuguese language word for 'farm', but is sometimes used in the English language for the coffee estates that spread within the interior of Brazil between 1840 and 1896, which created major export commodities for Brazilian trade, but also led to intensification of slavery in Brazil....
s in the region and up to eight million cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
.
Erosion and sedimentation caused by this activity alter the soil and hydrological characteristics of Pantanal flood-plain ecosystems with the consequence that native species are threatened by the change in ecosystem variables.

Hunting and smuggling of endangered species
Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters....

Reptile, wild cat and parrot species are particularly at risk from the smuggling industry due to their high value on the black market.

Uncontrolled tourism and "eco-tourism"
Deforestation

Deforestation is more relevant to elevated areas of the Pantanal which contain forest stands than low-land grassy areas.
Silt run-off from deforested highlands alters soil hydrology and is a significant threat to the Pantanal.

Mercury
Mercury (element)

Mercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is one of six elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure....
pollution from gold mining
Gold mining

Gold mining consists of the processes and techniques employed in the resource extraction of gold from the ground. There are several techniques by which gold may be extracted from the Earth....
operations

The Pantanal is a natural water treatment
Water treatment

Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses....
system as it removes chemicals, including pollutants, from water. However, over-pollution from industrial development (especially gold mining) can harm native flora and fauna.

Pollution from agro-industrial plants

However, water quality in the Pantanal was not significantly impacted as of 2002.
Recent high flooding has caused inundation of cultivated areas surrounding the park. The receding flood waters carried large amounts of pesticides back into the rivers and lakes, killing a great number of fish .

Pollution from sewage systems
Development of land for transport (shipping canals and raised roads)

The proposed plan to dredge the Paraguay and Parana River
Paraná River

This article is about the second-longest river in South America: For the shorter river in Goi?s, central Brazil, see Paran? RiverThe Paran? River is a river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina over a course of some 2,570 kilometers ....
s to allow ocean-going ships to travel further inland is of particular concern and could affect the hydrology (flooding and drainage cycles) of the region, and therefore impact the ecosystem.

Protected areas

Pantanal Matogrossense National Park

A portion of the Pantanal in Brazil has been protected as the Pantanal Matogrossense National Park

Pantanal Matogrossense National Park

Pantanal Matogrossense National Park is a national park of Brazil....
. This park was established in September 1981. It is located in the municipality of Poconé in the State of Mato Grosso, between the mouths of the Bahía de Sao Marcos and the Gurupi River

Gurupí River

The Gurup? River is a river in north-central Brazil which forms the boundary between Maranh?o and Par? states. The Gurup? rises in the low hills which separate its basin from that of the Tocantins River to the south, and flows north into the Atlantic Ocean....
.

This park has been designated a Ramsar Site of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention

Ramsar Convention

File:RAMSAR-logo.gifThe Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental Ecology functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational val...
since May 24, 1993.

SESC Pantanal Private Natural Heritage Reserve

The SESC Pantanal Private Natural Heritage Reserve (Reserva Particular do Patrimonio Natural SESC Pantanal) is a privately owned reserve in Brazil, established in 1998 and in size. It is located in the north-eastern portion, known as "Poconé" Pantanal, not far from the Pantanal National Park. It is a mix of permanent rivers, seasonal streams, permanent and seasonal floodplain freshwater lakes, shrub dominated wetlands and seasonally flooded forests, all dedicated to nature preservation and designated a Ramsar Site of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Main cities located inside the Pantanal

Aquidauana
Aquidauana

Aquidauana is a municipality located in the States of Brazil of Mato Grosso do Sul. Its population was 46,469 and its area is 16,959 km?....
Cáceres
Cáceres, Mato Grosso

}|----- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| valign="top" | Address of the local government: || Prefeitura Municipal de C?ceresAv. Get?lio Vargas, s/nCOC - C?ceres - MT...
Corumbá
Corumbá

Corumb? is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 101,089 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, animal husbandry, mineral extraction, and tourism, being the gateway to the biggest wetlands of the world, the...
Coxim
Coxim

Coxim is a municipality located in the States of Brazil of Mato Grosso do Sul. Its population was 33,021 and its area is 6,412 km?....
Miranda
Poconé
Barão de Melgaço

In fiction

John Grisham
John Grisham

John Ray Grisham is an United States ex-politician, lawyer and novelist is best known for his works of modern legal drama. As of 2008, his books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide....
's novel The Testament
The Testament

The Testament is a legal/suspense thriller by American author John Grisham. It was published in hardcover by Doubleday on February 2, 1999....
largely takes place in the Pantanal.
Pantanal is the title of a Brazilian-produced telenovela
Telenovela

A telenovela is a limited-run Serial melodrama of the type made famous in Latin America. The word is a portmanteau of tele, short for television, and novela ....
whose setting is the Brazilian Pantanal.

External links

article discussing development pressure on the Pantanal by Roderick Eime
Guardian travel article, September 10, 2005.
Planet Ark article, January 13, 2006