Atlantic Forest and Lacustrine System of the middle Rio Doce - Brazil

The LTER project in the middle Rio Doce watershed, Southeast Brazil, calls attention to the importance of the system (> 150 lakes) and mantaining a considerable part of the original Atlantic Forest, one of the world’s most diverse and threatened ecosystem: 260 mammals species of which 30% are protected within the Rio Doce State Park together with 325 bird species and nothing less than 7 Primates!, 20,000 plant species of which 1,129 within the Rio Doce Park. The site is located within the "Steel Valley" and surrounded by 19 municipalities which represent a considerable source of pressures together with extense Eucalyptus spp plantations, mining, exotic species and abandoned pastureland.