Restoring Brazil's Atlantic Forest

It’s an exciting time when you can start to see how the new forest structure will look. A picture starts to emerge when invasive grasses have died away and the planted seedlings have become established. It’s then that the natural regeneration potential of a plot also becomes evident. 

A second vegetation assessment was carried out in Pontal by our consultancy partner Embira in September, and they’ve just delivered the results. Their studies show that even in very young plots like the one shown above - where restoration took place a year or eighteen months ago - some species that help natural regeneration are already growing. For example, they found an abundance of short-lived species Solanum granuloso-leprosum (below) and Solanum mauritianum (known as wild tobacco or woolly nightshade), both of which act as ‘pioneers’ to prepare the ground for other plants. These species are very attractive to birds and bats, so they’ll be crucial for ecological processes such as flower pollination and fruit dispersal. They’ll really boost the natural regeneration abilities of our intervention areas.

Thank you for making this possible!

In our Wildlife Corridors project, we’ve partnered with Rainforest Connection to monitor the diversity, distribution and activity patterns of animals by recording ‘Soundscapes’ in our restored areas. The recorders we’ve installed across our sites will record species-specific patterns to identify the presence or abundance of up to 50 species. The data gathered will also contribute to Rainforest Connection’s ‘Audio Ark’ – a digital library of shareable, searchable forest sounds and ecodata for use by scientists and land managers to help protect and conserve the world’s forests.

This is WeForest’s Brazil Country Manager Cris with an Embaúba tree (Cecropia sp.). We know tapirs have been around when we find these fast-growing trees broken (inset), as they love to eat the fresh leaves at the top. But it’s not a problem: the hardy Embaúbas usually resprout, and eventually feed the tapirs again. And as tapirs also eat a lot of other fruits, they contribute to our work by leaving other types of seeds in their droppings, such as palm seeds, to regenerate spontaneously in our restored sites!