Brazil Eco Adventure Tours
Rainforest - Hiking & Biking - Wildlife

Brazil is universally recognised as the first among the so - called megadiverse countries. It houses the largest biodiversity in the world. According to a study published by CI do Brasil in July 2005, the total known Brazilian biota is estimated at 170.000 - 210.000 species.

The kingdom of plants contains an estimated 40.000 - 50.000 known species. It is considered the single largest flora in the world. The floristic diversity of the Atlantic Rainforest / (Mata Atlântica) is particularly rich. With more than 20.000 plants (8.000 endemic) and 2.300 animals (725 endemic), this biome is one of the top 5 biodiversity hotspots on Earth.

The density of biodiversity in this biome is particularly impressive. A biomap of the University of Bonn from 1999 indicates more than 5.000 vascular plant species in an area of 10.000 sqkm of the tropical rainforest ecosystem in Southeast Brazil. According to UNESCO, more than 450 woody plant species per hectare can be found in some spots of the Atlantic Rainforest Southeast Reserves World Heritage Site (larger than in the Amazon Rainforest).

Some of the best databases for determining Brazil´s flora is the digitized form of Flora Brasiliensis, the masterpiece of the german scientist Carl Friedrich Philip von Martius and the Virtual Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden.

See also: fauna diversity