SERRA DA SAUDADE: NATURAL HISTORY AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF AN UNKNOWN REMNANT OF THE CERRADO BIOME IN WESTERN MINAS GERAIS

Abstract

Serra da Saudade is a mountain range with altitudes ranging between 800 and 1200 meters above sea level, located in the Alto São Francisco basin, west of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Although it has suffered a significant anthropic impact since the 18th century with diamond mining and later with agriculture, livestock, shale gas prospecting and glauconite mining, the region still maintains extensive preserved areas of Cerrado, mainly on the right bank of the Indaiá river. This review provides an account of the natural history of Serra da Saudade with an emphasis on the remaining biodiversity of this neglected region of the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, exemplified by some data on the fauna and flora observed in a private reserve and its surroundings, on the right bank of the Indaiá river, in the municipality of Quartel Geral. Serra da Saudade presents itself as an extensive area of preserved Cerrado with great potential for scientific studies, inventories and conservation actions.