Rio Ronuro Ecological Station

Rio Ronuro Ecological Station (Estação Ecológica do Rio Ronuro) is an ecological station in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. It protects an area of contact between Amazon rainforest in the north and Cerrado semi-deciduous forest in the south. Since being created in 1998 it has been reduced in size and has suffered from significant deforestation.

History
The Rio Ronuro Ecological Station was created on 23 April 1998 by the state of Mato Grosso to protect the environment, with an area of about 131795 ha, in the municipality of Nova Ubiratã, Mato Grosso. The Xingu Indigenous Park is to the northeast of the unit. On 20 April 2005 the state legislative assembly reduced the area to 102000 ha. The advisory council was formed on 12 April 2010. The conservation unit is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.

Environment
The Rio Ronuro Ecological Station (ESEC) is in the Xingu River basin, and is drained by the Santo Cristo, Hinternam, Von Den Steinen and Ronuro rivers. It is in the Amazon biome. The unit is in an area with an equatorial climate with a dry season in the winter. Average temperatures are above 25 C. Average annual rainfall is about 2000 mm. The landscape is relatively flat. The ESEC would be in the proposed South Amazon Ecotones Ecological Corridor.

38% of the ESEC is covered by pioneer formations and 62% by mature forest, including open submontane Amazon rainforest in the north, seasonal semi-deciduous Cerrado forest in the south and the contact zone between these biomes. Species found in the unit include giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), cougar (Puma concolor), jaguar (Panthera onca), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus). Rare endemic fauna includes catitas (marmosa species) and sauiás (proechimys species).

Challenges
The unit is threatened by illegal logging, land clearance for agriculture, indiscriminate hunting and fires. As of 2002 15% of the unit had been deforested. By 2005 that had risen to 20%. A 2014 study of ten protected areas in Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará whose size had been reduced since creation, including the Rio Ronuro Ecological Station, concluded that the reduction in area had caused the deforestation process to accelerate.