The Bahamian-Antillean mangroves form a Neotropical mangrove ecoregion scattered across the islands of the Caribbean and the western Atlantic, spanning jurisdictions that include Cuba, The Bahamas, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. Its tidal forests are built from four characteristic salt-tolerant trees: red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus). The climate is subtropical and strongly hurricane-exposed, with rainfall declining from the wetter northern islands toward the drier south. These shallow-water forests shelter notable wildlife, serving as habitat for West Indian manatees, marine turtles, and American flamingos, with the Northern Bahamian rock iguana recognized as the ecoregion's flagship species. Coastal tourism development and sea-level rise are leading threats, which matters to gardeners because buttonwood (Conocarpus) native here is among the region's hardiest salt- and wind-tolerant coastal plants.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 25.5°N, 81.1°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.0°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Mangroves
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
8,486 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the mangroves biome
Coastal tidal forests of salt-tolerant trees rooted in sheltered estuaries and shorelines of the tropics and subtropics. Mangroves buffer coasts from storms, store large amounts of carbon, and serve as nurseries for fish and shellfish.
National refinement sub-regions
Within this RESOLVE ecoregion, national agencies recognise finer-grained sub-regions. Plotwright assigns each sub-region polygon to its containing RESOLVE polygon by centroid.
EPA Level III (US-only) — 2 sub-regions
75 · Southern Coastal Plain
76 · Southern Florida Coastal Plain
Source: USGS / EPA via Omernik (1987).
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.