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Caatinga ((:kaaˈtĩɡɐ)) is a type of desert vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (''caa'' = forest, vegetation, ''tinga'' = white). Caatinga is a xeric shrubland and thorn forest, which consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally. Cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush, and arid-adapted grasses make up the ground layer. Many annual plants grow, flower, and die during the brief rainy season. Caatinga falls entirely within earth's Tropical zone and is one of 6 major ecoregions of Brazil, including the Amazon Basin, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampas. It covers 850,000 km², nearly 10% of Brazil's territory. It is home to 15 million people and more than 2000 species of vascular plants, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. ==Geography== Caatinga covers the interior portion of northeastern Brazil bordering the Atlantic seaboard (save for a fringe of Atlantic Forest). It is located between 3°S 45°W and 17°S 35°W, extending across eight states of Brazil: Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and parts of Minas Gerais, as well the southeasternmost point of Rio de Janeiro in Cabo Frio. The Caatinga includes several enclaves of humid tropical forest, known as the Caatinga enclaves moist forests. The Caatinga is bounded by the Maranhão Babaçu forests to the northwest, the Atlantic dry forests and the Cerrado savannas to the west and southwest, the humid Atlantic forests along the Atlantic coast to the east, and by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and northeast. The Caatinga comprises 850,000 km², about 10% of the surface area of Brazil. By comparison, it is over nine times the surface area of Portugal from whence came its early settlers, and 20% larger than the U.S. state of Texas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「caatinga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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