Prior to the mid-20th century, an extensive subtropical rain forest covered much of the Brazilian coastal plain, eastern Paraguay and part of northern Argentina. The forest supported over 20 000 plant species, many of them endemic, as well as a diverse array of fauna. Beginning with selective logging prior to the 1940s, deforestation accelerated through the 1970s, leaving less than 10 per cent of the original forest by early in the 21st century (Huang and others 2007, Huang and others 2009, Wayant and others 2010). Where these forests used to cover eastern Paraguay, farmland now dominates the landscape.