The South American Pacific mangroves fringe the Pacific coast of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, threading through estuaries and river mouths along the Neotropical shoreline. Their characteristic vegetation is a mix of black, white, red, and tea mangroves, with the regionally endemic Avicennia tonduzi and Avicennia bicolor occurring here; the southernmost stands in the Virrila and Piura estuaries are made up only of black mangrove (Avicennia germinans). The climate is broadly equatorial and humid but spans a dramatic moisture gradient, from very high rainfall in the wet north to near-desert conditions in the arid Piura region of the far south. These tidal forests are exceptionally rich habitat, sustaining flagship wildlife such as the crab-eating raccoon and the critically endangered mangrove finch, alongside clams such as Anadara tuberculosa that local communities harvest. Much of the ecoregion remains under pressure from coastal conversion, and roughly 40,000 hectares of Ecuadorian mangrove were cleared for shrimp ponds in the 1980s and early 1990s before losses stabilized.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 2.5°N, 78.2°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.3°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
5,231 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.
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 · 52
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.