RESTORING ARAUCARIA FOREST FRAGMENTS WITHIN THE ARAUCARIA FOREST GREEN CORRIDOR INITIATIVE

Only 1% of the original Araucaria forests in Parana state still exists and the remaining forest, which contains threatened species such as the Candelabra tree and the Monkey puzzle, is severely fragmented. This project is working to restore and to enrich fragments of Araucaria forest in southern Parana with a full range of species, with a particular focus on threatened and declining native trees.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Araucaria forest is a unique ecosystem of the Brazilian Atlantic forest, found in southern Brazil. The forests are dominated by Araucaria pines and were originally distributed across more than 7 million hectares in Paraná state. Only 1% of these forests are now remaining and time is running out to save them and the rare trees they contain.

The drastic reduction of the original distribution of the Araucaria forest and the fragmentation of their remnants directly threatens many tree species. Trees such as Araucaria angustifolia (Candelabra tree), Ocotea odorifera (sassafras), Ocotea porosa (Imbuia) and Ocotea puberula (Canela sebo) are just some of them but there are no less than 28 species of tree and shrubs listed as threatened in these forests. The severe fragmentation of the habitat has also meant that areas left to natural regeneration do not include the full range of species that naturally occur in the Araucaria forest.

Currently, there are several programs and projects being developed for the conservation and restoration/rehabilitation of Araucaria Forest. However, few of them include the effective conservation and restoration of the full range of endangered or rare native plants, largely due to the difficulty of obtaining seeds and seedlings of these plants. The main reason for this is the lack of known seed sources and the lack of knowledge of the development and spread of most of these species.

Our in country partner, Sociedade Chaua is working to develop seed collection and nursery germination procedures for globally threatened or declining native trees species. The project will produce around 1,000 seedlings of rare species for use in forest restoration projects and work to rehabilitate or enrich significant areas of Araucaria forest. It will also produce and disseminate information on successful germination and restoration protocols to other nurseries and restoration initiatives in southern Brazil.

Update: December 2011

The project has collected phenological data on 24 endangered species of the Araucaria forest, seven of which are listed as threatened by IUCN. This data will be added to a ‘seed collection calendar’, which will be developed over the coming months and which will be an important resource for conservation work of these forests.

A study of the seed development of three species, Ocotea odorifera, Cyphomandra diploconos and Albizia edwalli has also started. Surveys have mapped 227 individuals of five threatened species, plus 135 other rare trees. The design of the seed research facility and preparation of land for its construction have been completed. The project is now collecting further data on fruiting times and studying the reproduction, seed viability and optimal propagation procedures for target threatened species of the Araucaria forest.  

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