The Mesoamerican Gulf-Caribbean mangroves form a chain of disconnected coastal wetlands along the eastern, Caribbean-facing coast of Central America, spanning Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, from Tampico on the Gulf of Mexico south to Panama. The habitat is dominated by red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), and white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), often with button mangrove and associated trees such as Pterocarpus officinalis and the leather fern Acrostichum aureum. The climate is tropical savanna (Köppen Aw) with a pronounced dry season and stable year-round temperatures, and the region is shaped heavily by periodic hurricanes and other extreme weather. These mangroves are recognized as areas of high biodiversity and endemism, sheltering wildlife including Baird's tapir and the flagship hawksbill sea turtle, and roughly 57% of their collective area is under some form of official protection through national parks and biosphere reserves. Among the native associated plants is Pachira aquatica, a freshwater-swamp tree familiar to gardeners well beyond its range.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 19.5°N, 87.7°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.1°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
10,338 sq mi
Conservation tier
Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 1)
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.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
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.