The Brazilian Atlantic dry forests form a tropical dry forest ecoregion of eastern Brazil, stretching across northern Minas Gerais, Bahia, and Piauí along the São Francisco River depression, where they sit between the Cerrado savannas of central Brazil and the Caatinga dry shrublands of the northeast. The vegetation is deciduous to semi-deciduous forest reaching roughly 25 to 30 meters tall, characterized by trees such as the bottle-trunked barriguda (Cavanillesia arborea), Brazilian cedarwood, and Tabebuia species. The climate is tropical with a pronounced dry season of about five months and annual rainfall of 850 to 1,000 mm, on eutrophic soils derived from Bambuí limestone. Conservation is a serious concern: around 70 percent of the native forest has been cleared for agriculture and charcoal production tied to Brazil's steel and pig-iron industries, and the region is home to the critically endangered Barbara Brown's titi as well as threatened birds like the hyacinth macaw. For gardeners, the native Tabebuia trumpet trees are familiar ornamental flowering trees rooted in this drought-adapted flora.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 10.1°S, 44.1°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.3°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
44,468 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome
Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Currently suited · 4
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: