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Habitats

The Mbaracayu Reserve covers a diverse range of habitats, including tall forests, grasslands and waterlogged areas.

Here we give a broad overview of the many habitats in the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve. More detailed information can be obtained from the Fundación Moisés Bertoni in Paraguay, where studies are ongoing.

Bosque alto

Snake stick

Snake stick, Tabernaemontana catharinensis © CHUCAO, Wikimedia Creative Commons.

This forest type covers 17,000 hectares (30% of the total covered area in the Reserve) and the canopy reaches 30 metres in height. Soils are deep, with abundant organic matter. The forest shows three distinct strata.

The canopy is composed of various genera, including Aspidosperma, Tabebuia, Astronium and Apuleia.

The middle layer is formed of species that reach about 20 metres tall; among the genera common in this layer are Nectandra, Myrciaria and Chrysophyllum.

In the lower stratum Sorocea bonplandii is dominant; other common taxa include Tabernaemontana catharinensis, Sebastiana brasiliensis, Inga, Trichilia and Guarea. Epiphytes also occur and lianas are extremely important.

Bosque medio

Eugenia pungens

Eugenia pungens © Huertasurbanas, Wikimedia Creative Commons.

This forest type covers 30% of the total forested area of the reserve and reaches about 20 metres in height. Soils are sandy and well-drained. Several types of bosque medio can be distinguished.

Some are dominated by Myrcianthes pungens, with Ocotea, Myrciaria rivularis and Myrciaria cuspidata, while another distinct type is dominated by Copaifera langsdorfii, with Tabebuia, Cedrela and Eugenia.

Gallery forest

Enterolobium contorsiliquum

Timbo, Enterolobium contorsiliquum © J. de Egea.

In this category we include forest types of medium to low canopy height on sandy soils, which are on slopes ending in watercourses or along streams and are thus subject to periodic inundation.

Some of the important canopy species in these forests are:

  • Copaifera langsdorfii
  • Luehea divaricata
  • Inga uraguensis
  • Nectandra megapotamica

Bambusa guadua can be important on the banks of the rivers, forming dense and often nearly pure stands.

In the middle strata there are:

  • Sebastiania sp.
  • Myrciaria rivularis
  • Essenbeckia grandiflora
  • Trichilia pallida

Piperaceae, Rubiaceae and Melastomataceae are abundant in the understory.

Bosque bajo

This includes those forests where the canopy is up to 8 metres in height, and usually occurs on poor soils in depressions that are saturated, and either permanently or periodically inundated.

In the Reserve, bosque bajo covers 16,000 hectares and is the third most common habitat type. Myrtaceae are dominant in these forests.

Cerrado

Cerrado habitats are grasslands on well-drained, sandy soils.

They generally occur on uplands, and comprise a wide variety of mixed grass and shrub communities.

Pastures and flooded grasslands

This complex of communities occupies a total of 1,415 hectares in the Reserve. Soils are poor and badly drained.

Pastures are dominated by grasses, such as Andropogon, Axonopus and Loudetia. Common angiosperm families (in addition to Poaceae) are Asteraceae, Melastomataceae and Fabaceae.

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