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43-637: The area is composed of secondary vegetation , as it is the result of reforestation carried out during the Second Empire , when it became clear that deforestation caused by coffee farms was harming the drinking water supply of the then capital of the Empire . More than 230 species of animals and birds live in the park, including capuchin monkeys , coatis , agoutis , wild dogs , marmosets , hummingbirds and thrushes . The contemporary Tijuca National Park and its surrounding forests are largely

86-472: A chapel , named after Brazil's patron saint— Our Lady of the Apparition —under the statue, allowing Catholics to hold baptisms and weddings there. Lightning struck the statue during a violent thunderstorm on February 10, 2008, causing some damage to the fingers, head and eyebrows. The Rio de Janeiro state government initiated a restoration effort to replace some of the outer soapstone layers and repair

129-536: A cog railway was built to carry passengers to the top of Corcovado , and between 1922 and 1931 the famous statue Christ the Redeemer was built. In 1961, Tijuca Forest was declared a national park , and in 2011, the Carioca Mosaic was established, including the park. In 2012, UNESCO designated the landscapes around Rio de Janeiro, including the park, as a World Heritage Site . Tijuca National Park

172-539: A Christian monument on Mount Corcovado in the mid-1850s to honor Princess Isabel , regent of Brazil and the daughter of Emperor Pedro II , but the project was not approved. In 1889, the country became a republic, and owing to the separation of church and state , the proposed statue was dismissed. The Catholic Circle of Rio made a second proposal for a landmark statue on the mountain in 1920. The group organized an event called Semana do Monumento ("Monument Week") to attract donations and collect signatures to support

215-405: A community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms (vegetation and flora) were used indiscriminately, and still are in some contexts. Augustin de Candolle (1820) also made a similar distinction but he used the terms "station" ( habitat type) and "habitation" ( botanical region ). Later, the concept of vegetation would influence the usage of the term biome with

258-563: A problem compounded by colonization by more flammable grasses displacing native vegetation. Given its proximity to the city, the park receives heavy use: in 2016, the park received 3,305,010 visitors. The park contains a number of attractions, most famously the colossal sculpture of Christ the Redeemer . Other attractions include the Cascatinha Waterfall; the Mayrink Chapel, with murals painted by Cândido Portinari ;

301-527: A regular and recurring part of the long-term system dynamic. Fire and wind disturbances are prevalent throughout many vegetation types worldwide. Fire is particularly potent because of its ability to destroy not only living plants but also the seeds, spores, and living meristems representing the potential next generation, and because of fire's impact on fauna populations, soil characteristics and other ecosystem elements and processes (for further discussion of this topic see fire ecology ). Temporal change at

344-507: A slower pace is ubiquitous; it comprises the ecological succession field. Succession is the relatively gradual structure and taxonomic composition change that arises as the vegetation modifies various environmental variables over time, including light, water, and nutrient levels. These modifications change the suite of species most adapted to grow, survive, and reproduce in an area, causing floristic changes. These floristic changes contribute to structural changes inherent in plant growth even in

387-620: A symbol of peace, was chosen. Local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and artist Carlos Oswald designed the statue. French sculptor Paul Landowski created the work. In 1922, Landowski commissioned fellow Parisian Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida , who studied sculpture at the Fine Arts Conservatory in Bucharest and in Italy. A group of engineers and technicians studied Landowski's submissions, and they felt building

430-510: Is an Art Deco statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , created by French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa , in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot . Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 metres (98 ft) high, excluding its 8-metre (26 ft) pedestal . The arms stretch 28 metres (92 ft) wide. It

473-546: Is claimed to be the world's largest urban forest , covering some 39.58 square kilometres (15.28 sq mi), although this title is disputed with Johannesburg , South Africa . The park shares its name with the bairros (neighborhoods) of Tijuca and Barra da Tijuca nearby. The word Tijuca comes from the Tupi language and means marsh , a reference to the Tijuca Lagoon in the contemporary Barra da Tijuca. It

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516-483: Is defined by characteristic dominant species, or a common aspect of the assemblage, such as an elevation range or environmental commonality. The contemporary use of vegetation approximates that of ecologist Frederic Clements' term earth cover , an expression still used by the Bureau of Land Management . The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of

559-631: Is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca National Park overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. This statue is the largest Art Deco –style sculpture in the world. A symbol of Christianity around the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil and was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World . Vincentian priest Pedro Maria Boss first suggested placing

602-697: Is located in a mountainous region which encompasses the Tijuca Massif. Among its impressive peaks are the Pedra da Gávea , Corcovado and Pico da Tijuca . The forest and mountains form a natural boundary that separates the West Zone of Rio from the rest of the city, as well as dividing the North and South Zones . One favela exists in the Tijuca Forest, called Mata Machado. Its inhabitants are mainly

645-421: Is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone . Christ the Redeemer differs considerably from its original design, as the initial plan was a large Christ with a globe in one hand and a cross in the other. Although the project organizers originally accepted the design, it later changed to the statue of today, with the arms spread out wide. The statue weighs 635 metric tons (625 long , 700 short tons ), and

688-409: Is so dense that scientists have estimated that ambient temperatures in surrounding areas have been lowered by up to 9 °C. The forest also contains some 30 waterfalls. Due to the reforestation efforts of the late 19th century, about half of the area of a park is a mix of about 30 native tree species and ten introduced species . It is currently threatened by frequent, accidental fires set by humans,

731-524: The Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro , media company Grupo Globo , oil company Shell do Brasil, environmental regulator of IBAMA , National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage , and the city government of Rio de Janeiro entered into an agreement to conduct restoration work. More work on the statue and its environs was conducted in 2003 and early 2010. In 2003, a set of escalators , walkways , and elevators were installed to facilitate access to

774-705: The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and originally developed by UNESCO and The Nature Conservancy ), the classification is hierarchical and incorporates the non-floristic criteria into the upper (most general) five levels and limited floristic criteria only into the lower (most specific) two levels. In Europe, classification often relies much more heavily, sometimes entirely, on floristic (species) composition alone, without explicit reference to climate, phenology or growth forms. It often emphasizes indicator or diagnostic species which may distinguish one classification from another. In

817-666: The phytosociological approach in the study of vegetation relies upon a fundamental unit, the plant association , which is defined upon flora. An influential, clear and simple classification scheme for types of vegetation was produced by Wagner & von Sydow (1888). Other important works with a physiognomic approach includes Grisebach (1872), Warming (1895, 1909), Schimper (1898), Tansley and Chipp (1926), Rübel (1930), Burtt Davy (1938), Beard (1944, 1955), André Aubréville (1956, 1957), Trochain (1955, 1957), Küchler (1967), Ellenberg and Mueller-Dombois (1967) (see vegetation classification ). There are many approaches for

860-463: The Bat's Cave ( Caverna dos Morcegos ). Vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa , life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader than the term flora which refers to species composition . Perhaps

903-474: The FGDC standard, the hierarchy levels, from most general to most specific, are: system, class, subclass, group, formation, alliance, and association . The lowest level, or association, is thus the most precisely defined, and incorporates the names of the dominant one to three (usually two) species of a type. An example of a vegetation type defined at the level of class might be " Forest, canopy cover > 60% "; at

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946-428: The absence of species changes (especially where plants have a large maximum size, i.e., trees), causing slow and broadly predictable changes in the vegetation. Succession can be interrupted at any time by disturbance, setting the system back to a previous state or off on another trajectory altogether. Because of this, successional processes may or may not lead to some static, final state . Moreover, accurately predicting

989-545: The act "a crime against the nation". The culprits later apologized and presented themselves to the police. In reference to Brazil striker Ronaldo 's usual goal celebration of both arms outstretched, the Pirelli tyre company ran a 1998 commercial in which he replaced the statue while in an Inter Milan strip. The commercial was controversial with the Catholic Church. In 1990, several organizations, including

1032-513: The area in 1861, and efforts began to restore the former forest on the bare slopes and abandoned fields. The re-planting of trees was carried out by 6 enslaved persons. Their names were Eleutério, Constantino, Manuel, Mateus, Leopoldo, and Maria. These people were enslaved by the Portuguese government and under the supervision of the Tijuca Forest manager Major Manuel Gomes Archer. They planted over 100,000 trees from 1861 to 1887. Around this time,

1075-587: The building of the statue. The organization was motivated by what they perceived as "Godlessness" in the society. The donations came mostly from Brazilian Catholics . The designs considered for the "Statue of the Christ" included a representation of the Christian cross , a statue of Jesus with a globe in his hands, and a pedestal symbolizing the world. Eventually, the statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms,

1118-460: The characteristics of such a state, even if it does arise, is not always possible. In short, vegetative communities are subject to many variables that set limits on future conditions' predictability. Generally, the larger an area under consideration, the more likely the vegetation will be heterogeneous. Two main factors are at work. First, the temporal dynamics of disturbance and succession are increasingly unlikely to be in synchrony across any area as

1161-436: The classification of vegetation (physiognomy, flora, ecology, etc.). Much of the work on vegetation classification comes from European and North American ecologists, and they have fundamentally different approaches. In North America, vegetation types are based on a combination of the following criteria: climate pattern, plant habit , phenology and/or growth form, and dominant species. In the current US standard (adopted by

1204-420: The closest synonym is plant community , but vegetation can, and often does, refer to a wider range of spatial scales than that term does, including scales as large as the global. Primeval redwood forests , coastal mangrove stands, sphagnum bogs , desert soil crusts , roadside weed patches, wheat fields, cultivated gardens and lawns; all are encompassed by the term vegetation . The vegetation type

1247-562: The descendants of those who migrated to the region in the 1930s to take part in the replanting effort. Though conditions have improved recently under the Favela-Bairro Project, it still contributes to environmental degradation in the forest. Ecology The Forest is home to hundreds of species of plants and wildlife , many threatened by extinction , and found only in the Atlantic Forest biome . The vegetation

1290-468: The foot of the statue. The restoration involved one hundred people and used more than 60,000 pieces of stone taken from the same quarry as the original statue. During the unveiling of the restored statue, it was illuminated with green-and-yellow lighting in support of the Brazil national football team playing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup . Maintenance work needs to be conducted periodically because of

1333-455: The inclusion of the animal element. Other concepts similar to vegetation are " physiognomy of vegetation" ( Humboldt , 1805, 1807) and "formation" ( Grisebach , 1838, derived from " Vegetationsform ", Martius , 1824). Departing from Linnean taxonomy , Humboldt established a new science, dividing plant geography between taxonomists who studied plants as taxa and geographers who studied plants as vegetation. The physiognomic approach in

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1376-465: The level of a formation as " Winter-rain, broad-leaved, evergreen, sclerophyllous, closed-canopy forest "; at the level of alliance as " Arbutus menziesii forest"; and at the level of association as " Arbutus menziesii-Lithocarpus dense flora forest", referring to Pacific madrone-tanoak forests which occur in California and Oregon, US. In practice, the levels of the alliance and/or an association are

1419-432: The lightning rods on the statue. Lightning damaged it again on January 17, 2014, dislodging a finger on the right hand. In 2010, a massive restoration of the statue began. Work included cleaning, replacing the mortar and soapstone on the exterior, restoring iron in the internal structure, and waterproofing the monument. Vandals attacked the statue during renovation, spraying paint along the arm. Mayor Eduardo Paes called

1462-514: The monument opened on October 12, 1931. During the opening ceremony, the statue was to be lit by a battery of floodlights turned on remotely by Italian shortwave radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi , stationed 9,200 kilometres (5,700 mi) away in Rome but because of bad weather, the lights were activated on site. In October 2006, on the 75th anniversary of the statue's completion, Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid , Archbishop of Rio, consecrated

1505-510: The most often used, particularly in vegetation mapping, just as the Latin binomial is most often used in discussing particular species in taxonomy and in general communication. Like all biological systems, plant communities are temporally and spatially dynamic; they change at all possible scales. Dynamism in vegetation is defined primarily as changes in species composition and structure. Temporally, many processes or events can cause change, but for

1548-565: The pagoda-style gazebo at Vista Chinesa ; and a giant granite table called the Mesa do Imperador ("Emperor's Table"). There are numerous hiking trails. Common destinations are: Diamantina's waterfall, Parrot's Beak ( Bico do Papagaio ), Tijuca's Peak ( Pico da Tijuca ), Cave Circuit ( Circuito das Grutas ), Archer's Hill ( Morro do Archer ), Anhanguera's Hill ( Morro da Anhanguera ), the Excelsior Lookout ( Mirante do Excelsior ) and

1591-400: The platform surrounding the statue. The four-month restoration in 2010 focused on the statue itself. The statue's internal structure was renovated and its soapstone mosaic covering was restored by removing a crust of fungi and other microorganisms and repairing small cracks. The lightning rods located in the statue's head and arms were also repaired, and new lighting fixtures were installed at

1634-400: The result of reforestation . In the 1700s, forests in the future park around Rio de Janeiro were cleared for fuel, coffee growing, and livestock. The small streams in the former forest were a significant source of the city's water supply, and, with variable rainfall, the city began to experience water shortages and flash floods . Emperor Pedro II of Brazil established federal control over

1677-636: The sake of simplicity, they can be categorized roughly as abrupt or gradual. Abrupt changes are generally referred to as disturbances ; these include things like wildfires , high winds , landslides , floods , avalanches and the like. Their causes are usually external ( exogenous ) to the community—they are natural processes occurring (mostly) independently of the natural processes of the community (such as germination, growth, death, etc.). Such events can change vegetation structure and composition very quickly and for long periods, and they can do so over large areas. Very few ecosystems are without some disturbance as

1720-405: The size of that area increases. Different areas will be at various developmental stages due to other local histories, particularly their times since the last significant disturbance. This fact interacts with inherent environmental variability (e.g., in soils, climate, topography, etc.), also a function of area. Environmental variability constrains the suite of species that can occupy a given area, and

1763-427: The structure out of reinforced concrete (designed by Albert Caquot ) instead of steel was more suitable for the cross -shaped statue. The concrete making up the base was supplied from Limhamn , Sweden. The outer layers are soapstone , chosen for its enduring qualities and ease of use. Construction took nine years, from 1922 to 1931, and cost the equivalent of US$ 250,000 (equivalent to $ 4,300,000 in 2023) and

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1806-405: The study of vegetation is common among biogeographers working on vegetation on a world scale, or when there is a lack of taxonomic knowledge of someplace (e.g., in the tropics, where biodiversity is commonly high). The concept of " vegetation type " is more ambiguous. The definition of a specific vegetation type may include not only physiognomy but also floristic and habitat aspects. Furthermore,

1849-468: The two factors interact to create a mosaic of vegetation conditions across the landscape. Only in agricultural or horticultural systems does vegetation ever approach perfect uniformity. There is always heterogeneity in natural systems, although its scale and intensity will vary widely. Christ the Redeemer (statue) Christ the Redeemer ( Portuguese : Cristo Redentor , standard Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈkɾistu ʁedẽˈtoʁ] )

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