This EBA encompasses the upper subtropical and montane areas of eastern Brazil, and extreme north-east Argentina. The EBA is centred on the upland areas of Serra da Mantiqueira (with its highest point at Pico Agulhas Negras, 2,787 m) and Serra do Mar of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states-but it also extends further to the north, south and west. In the north there are small and often isolated pockets of montane forest in Espírito Santo, eastern Minas Gerais (e.g. Serra do Caparaó) and in Serra do Ouricana in south-central Bahia. To the south the EBA extends into Paraná along the Serra Paranapiacaba and into Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul along the Serra do Mar, Serra Geral and into the Serra do Sudeste of south-east Rio Grande do Sul. To the west the EBA reaches extreme north-east Argentina in Misiones state. Lying adjacent to this EBA are the south-east Brazilian Atlantic forest lowlands (EBA 075).

The natural vegetation is a variety of humid forest with increasing proportions of conifer forest (Araucaria angustifolia and Podocarpus lambertii) in the south and west. At upper elevations of the Serras da Mantiqueira, do Mar, and Paranapiacaba there are extremely humid cloud-forests (elfin forest), which are open and low in stature (up to 15 m tall), dominated by Weinmannia, Drymys brasiliensis, Lamanonia speciosa, Rapanea and Miconia. The mountain slopes (mainly above 800 m) are dominated by humid montane forest which holds many trees taller than 30 m covered in epiphytes and lianas, with a rich understorey including tree ferns. The montane forest, like that in the lowlands, is very rich in plant species, with high levels of endemism (WWF/IUCN 1997).

Most of the restricted-range bird species are forest-dwelling, the exceptions being Cinclodes pabsti, which is found in the rocky savanna, and Sporophila melanogaster, which occurs in scrub and marsh (both breed in north-east Rio Grande Sul and adjacent Santa Catarina). Three species-Drymophila genei, D. rubricollis and Hemitriccus obsoletus-favour bamboo stands. Only a few are restricted to upper altitudes, notably Schizoeaca moreirae and Tijuca condita, but also Drymophila genei, Tijuca atra and Phylloscartes difficilis. Thus many of the birds in this EBA can overlap at their lower altitudinal limits with a few of the species found in the adjacent south-east Brazilian Atlantic forest lowlands (EBA 075).

In the previous analysis (ICBP 1992) four species (Amazona pretrei, Leptasthenura striolata, L. setaria and Piprites pileatus) were treated as forming their own EBA, being associated mainly with Araucaria forest. However, L. setaria is the only one found exclusively in such forest; A. pretrei also breeds in forest dominated by Podocarpus lambertii, especially in the Serra do Sudeste (Varty et al. 1994), and possibly wanders in the austral winter as far north as Paraguay (Lowen et al. 1996); L. striolata is also associated with Podocarpus-dominated forest mixed in with Araucaria forest; and Piprites pileatus is found in humid montane forest in the north of its range in Rio de Janeiro state.

Knowledge of the avifauna of south-east Brazil is constantly improving through fieldwork and museum-based research, as demonstrated by the discoveries over the last 20 years of Synallaxis whitneyi and Phylloscartes beckeri (from southern Bahia, described as new to science in 1995: Gonzaga and Pacheco 1995, Pacheco and Gonzaga 1995), and Tijuca condita (from the Serra do Mar in Rio de Janeiro state: Snow 1980). S. whitneyi and P. beckeri are both confined to the northernmost part of the EBA in the Serra do Ouricana; recent surveys in this small range of isolated hills not only discovered these new taxa but made significant northward range extensions for more than 20 species, including some of this EBA's restricted-range species (Gonzaga et al. 1995); see 'Distribution patterns' table.

The historical size of this EBA is difficult to assess as the extent of Araucaria forest has been much reduced by man. In the state of Paraná alone, for example, it has been estimated that the original forest covered 73,780 km², but in 1965 only 15,932 km² remained (Hueck 1978). However, the humid montane forest in the centre of the EBA in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo has suffered less destruction than forest in the neighbouring lowlands, and large areas remain, notably in São Paulo. Nevertheless, the isolated montane forests in the north of the EBA, especially in the Serra do Ouricana, have virtually disappeared owing to the expansion of pastureland and cultivation. It is likely that the remaining forest patches will be under pressure from clearance or from fires spreading out of cultivated areas (Gonzaga et al. 1995). This part of the EBA is of critical priority for conservation action (Whitney 1996).

Only three restricted-range species in the EBA are presently considered threatened; the threat status of the two new species from the Serra do Ouricana is yet to be formally evaluated, but both will certainly be considered threatened because of their small ranges and diminishing habitat. A further nine more-widespread threatened birds occur in this region, including a large part of the range of the threatened Vinaceous Amazon Amazona vinacea (classified as Endangered) in upland forest in the southern part of this EBA. The greatly reduced extent of the Araucaria forest is the principal reason for Amazona pretrei and Piprites pileatus being classified as threatened, and Tijuca condita is listed because of its highly restricted range which could be susceptible to disturbance such as fires started by hikers (Collar et al. 1992).

There are a large number of national and state parks that hold suitable habitat for, and populations of, the restricted-range species. These include Caparaó (Minas Gerais-Espírito Santo), Itatiaia (Rio de Janeiro-Minas Gerais, 300 km²), Serra dos Órgãos (Rio de Janeiro, 110 km²), Serra do Tinguá (Rio de Janeiro, 260 km²), Campos do Jordão (São Paulo, 83 km²), Serra da Bocaina (São Paulo, 1,000 km²), Serra do Mar State Park (São Paulo, 3,148 km²), Fazenda Intervales (São Paulo, 380 km²), Alto Ribeira (São Paulo, 377 km²) and Aparados da Serra (Rio Grande do Sul, 123 km²).

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Atlantic forest mountains. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/72 on 22/11/2024.