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Caatinga () is a type of semi-arid tropical vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" comes from the Tupian languages word , meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" ( = forest, vegetation, = white). The 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. Most vegetation experiences a brief burst of activity during the three-month-long rainy season.
Caatinga falls entirely within earth's tropical zone and is one of six major biomes of Brazil. It covers 912,529 km², nearly 10% of Brazil's territory. It is home to 26 million peopleSalcedo, I.H., Menezes, R.S.C. (2009): Agroecosystem functioning and management in semi-arid Northeastern Brazil, in: Tiessen, H., Stewart, J.W.B. (eds.): Applying Ecological Knowledge to Landuse Decisions. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research - IICA-IAI-Scope, Paris, pp. 73–81. and over 2000 species of plants, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
The Caatinga is the only exclusively Brazilian biome, which means that a large part of its biological heritage cannot be found anywhere else on the planet.
Located between 3°S 45°W and 17°S 35°W, the Caatinga experiences irregular winds from all directions. Rainfall is thus intermittent but intense, totalling on average. Although the climate is typically hot and semi-arid, the Caatinga includes several enclaves of humid tropical forest, with trees tall.
To the northwest, the Caatinga is bounded by the Maranhão Babaçu forests; to the west and southwest, the Atlantic dry forests and Cerrado savannas; to the east, the humid Atlantic forests; and to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean.
The drought usually ends in December or January, when the rainy season starts. Immediately after the first rains, the grey, desert-like landscape starts to transform and becomes completely green within a few days. Small plants start growing in the now moist soil and trees grow back their leaves. Rivers that are mostly dry during the past six or seven months start to fill up and streams begin to flow again.
The Caatinga has enough endemic species to constitute a floristic province.
Most authors divide the Caatinga into two different subtypes: dry ("sertão") and humid ("agreste"), but categorizations vary to as many as eight different vegetative regimes.
Endemic mammal species include:
The caatinga was inhabited by two major indigenous groups, the Macro-Jê and the Kariris, who have been in the Caatinga for at least two thousand years. After the 11th century, the Tupis arrived in the region, coming from the southeast and through the Atlantic coast. Contact with colonizers starting in the 16th century decimated numerous indigenous nations and tribes through diseases, enslavement, and invasion of territories for cattle ranching, sugar mills, and new settlements. Many of the Northeastern indigenous peoples chose assimilation, abandoning their customs, language, and religion to survive European advances, so many Northeasterners are mixed descendants of indigenous peoples and Europeans.
Currently, the Caatinga still has indigenous peoples, the largest of which are the Potyguaras, of Tupi origin and also native to the Atlantic Forest, totaling more than 20,000 indigenous peoples. In the interior, the largest groups are the Xukurus and Pankarus, from the Pernambuco Caatinga, totaling 12,000 and 7,000 indigenous peoples, possibly of Macro-Jê origin. The Fulni-Ô people are known for being the only indigenous ethnic group in the Northeast to have kept their ancestral language alive, as well as having saved unique cultural elements such as the Ouricuri Ritual; they are one of the least acculturated Northeastern peoples by European invaders. Other notable Caatinga peoples are the Kambiwás, Tremembés, Pitaguarys, Kariris, Kiriris, and Tabajaras.
Conversely, fossil evidence suggests that the Caatinga may historically have been part of a much larger dry belt.
Economic developed has fragmented the native biome. Estimates on the amount of Caatinga transformed affected by economic development range 25-50%, making Caatinga the most degraded ecosystem in Brazil, following the Atlantic Forest, which has lost over 80% of its original cover.
Meliponiculture is also a well-developed and traditional activity in the region. One of the most productive species, Melipona subnitida, known locally as jandaíra, produces up to 6 liters of honey a year, resulting in economic profit for the population.
Irrigation along the São Francisco River promises to turn the region into a breadbasket. The soil is very fertile, and existing irrigation infrastructure already supports the export of , and . At the same time, irrigation threatens to salinize the soil.
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