Project Emas 2000: survey on the vertebrate fauna

Flávio Rodrigues

ENP, covering 132.000 ha is the largest federal conservation unit in the Cerrado, but is virtually an island of preserved landscapes in a matrix of agro-ecosystems. ENP is covered mostly by open grasslands (68,8%), while preserved surrounding areas are formed mostly by denser Cerrado physiognomies, such as cerrado sensu-stricto, cerradão and forests. These differences in vegetational cover may cause different faunal composition between the park and surrounding unprotected areas. Part of the regional biodiversity may thus be subject to habitat destruction. One of the goals of this project is to quantify how much of the regional fauna is present inside ENP, identifying threatened taxa in the surrounding preserved Cerrado landscapes, proposing new priority areas for conservation to IBAMA (Brazilian official institute of environmental protection). This organ plans to acquire new areas for conservation around the park in the near future, using available funds from environmental compensations due to recently installed railways and hydroelectric plants in the region.