Brazilian “Savannas”

Abstract

The term “savanna” is used by botanists and geographers in many senses. These, however, all fall into two groups: that in which the word is used for a particular physiognomy, for any kind of vegetation, and that in which the word is used for a particular kind of vegetation, that is, a vegetation type. In the latter case, not only physiognomy but also floristic composition and habitat factors enter into the definition. Authors who use “savanna” for a vegetation type usually use it only for certain types intermediate between evergreen forest and desert in tropical or tropical-subtropical regions, not in temperate or polar regions. Thus, in South America there are the Llanos, the Gran Sabana, the northern and southern Guiana savannas, the Gran Panjonal, and the Amazonian campos and savannas such as the Campos do Rio Branco in Roraima Territory, Campos do Humaita in south-east Amazonas, and others in Amapa, Marajo Island, Monte Alegre, Alenquer, etc, as well as thousands of smaller ones scattered over the Amazon-Orinoco forest region. The open forms of the Amazon “caatingas” (currently called “campinas” by some authors), concentrated in the Rio Negro drainage, are also savannas in this wide sense. The large region of central Brazil cerrado and, according to some authors (Cole 1960), the north-east Brazil caatinga are also “savanna”.