Southern Africa mangroves
RESOLVE 116
The Southern Africa mangroves fringe the Indian Ocean shoreline along Mozambique's southernmost coast and the eastern coast of South Africa, marking the most southerly occurrence of mangroves on the African continent. They grow chiefly in sheltered river mouths and estuaries, dominated by salt-tolerant trees such as white mangrove (Avicennia marina), red mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata), black mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza) and Ceriops tagal, with species diversity increasing northward toward Kosi Bay. The climate is subtropical, and these stands persist unusually far south because the warm Agulhas Current pushes mangrove distribution roughly twenty degrees farther south on Africa's eastern coast than on its western coast. The estuaries shelter rich wildlife, including loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles, fiddler and mud crabs, mudskippers, and the near-endemic mangrove kingfisher, with dozens of bird species breeding among the trees. Around a quarter of the ecoregion is formally protected, though clearing for timber and for urban, industrial and tourist development remains an ongoing threat.
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.
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.