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!