Pousada Caiman, Pantanal http://www.caiman.com.br
PH.D.FABIANA FILARDI
Poetry is “the art of creating images, suggest emotions through a language that combine sounds, rhythms and significances” and the Brazilian Pantanal, the smallest biome of the country (1.76% of Brazil’s territory), has sounds, rhythms and significances that reflect the poetry of nature. The Pantanal is a floodplain with relief ranging between 80-150 meters, inserted in the central part of the Upper Paraguay River Basin in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. This geographical depression is surrounded by plateaus that have altitudes between 200-1000 meters and the water that comes from the high parts, as well as the great rainfall in the headwaters of the rivers flow into the plain causing the floods. As it is not possible to drain all accumulated water from the Paraguay River, it spreads out and covers continuously large tracts toward a natural outlet, which occurs from its encounter with the Paraná River, which flows into the Prata River reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
The rainy season begins between November and December, extending until March, and up to 2/3 of the Pantanal area might remain flooded through the month of May. So is the pulse of the waters which dictates the rhythm of life in the Pantanal, which is dynamic, complex and delicate. The Pantanal biome is one of the largest continuous moist extensions of the planet and presents exuberant natural beauty, with direct influence of three other Brazilian biomes: Amazon, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, in addition to strong influence of vegetation known as Chaco, present in northern Paraguay and eastern Bolivia and structurally very similar to the Brazilian Caatinga. The greater part of the territory of the Pantanal is covered by non-forest formations (about 80%) that form a mosaic of vegetation according to the proportion between the presence of species of trees and of species of herbs. For example, the vegetation type of the “cerrado sensu stricto” (savanna) and type of the “campo limpo” (grassland), are extremes of vegetation in relation to the dominance of trees and shrubs and subshrubs and herbs, respectively.
On the other hand, forests formations, namely, that have trees in a greater proportion and form canopy, in the Pantanal occupies few extensions (about 5%). The amplitude of the occurrence of more open vegetation is related to the very rich fauna of the Pantanal. Threatened species in other regions of Brazil can maintain large populations in this biome, such as the “tuiuiú” (Jabiru mycteria), bird symbol of Pantanal. Specific studies have cataloged the presence of 263 species of fishes, 41 species of amphibians, 113 species of reptiles, 463 species of birds and 132 species of mammals native of the biome. The ability to transform destructive practices in sustainable forms of production also reflects the dynamism of the Brazilian Pantanal: the nature presents unique and insurmountable conditions and the man adapts himself to the strength and to the rhythm of the Pantanal for obtaining prosperity with significance, with beauty and poetry!
