The Brazilian Biodiversity Virtual Institute

São Paulo state, located in the Southeastern region of Brazil, is the most industrialized state of the country, and has a population of over 35 million people. The two major biomes of the state, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado (Savannah), have been reduced to 12 percent and 2 percent of their pre—Columbian land area, respectively. With the exception of the coastal mountains (Serra do Mar), which are still covered with large extensions of remnants of native Tropical Rain Forest, inland forest and cerrado remnants are highly fragmented. Although forest clearing started in early 1800’s, it grew rapidly in the last half century. From 1962 to 1992 the state lost more than 50 percent of its native cerrado cover (Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo 1993; http 1).