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The Southern Africa mangroves are
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in sever ...
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
on the Mozambique's southernmost coast and the eastern coast of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
.


Location and description

These mangroves grow in the mouths of rivers on the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...
coast of South Africa, where the sea is warmed by the Agulhas Current, in many cases they are further sheltered from the ocean by sandbanks. The largest areas are in the estuaries of the Mhlathuze River and Lake St. Lucia. Mangroves extend as far south as the Nahoon River at 32°56′S., the most southerly occurrence of mangroves in Africa. Mangroves mostly grow in the estuaries of perennial rivers. There are approximately 1921 hectares of mangrove remaining on South Africa's coast. The largest mangrove areas are at Mhlathuze (652.1 ha), Lake St. Lucia (571 ha), Richards Bay (267 ha), Mngazana (118 ha), Mlalazi (60.7 ha), and Kosi Bay (60.7 ha), along with about a dozen smaller sites.


Flora

The ecoregion is home to six mangrove species: ''
Avicennia marina ''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the inter ...
, Bruguiera gymnorhiza,
Ceriops tagal ''Ceriops tagal'', commonly known as spurred mangrove or Indian mangrove, is a mangrove tree species in the family Rhizophoraceae. It is a protected tree in South Africa. The specific epithet ' is a plant name from the Tagalog language. Descrip ...
,
Lumnitzera racemosa ''Lumnitzera racemosa'', commonly known as the white-flowered black mangrove, is a species of mangrove in the family Combretaceae. It is found on the eastern coast of Africa and other places in the western Indo-Pacific region. It has one accept ...
,
Rhizophora mucronata ''Rhizophora mucronata'' (loop-root mangrove, red mangrove or Asiatic mangrove) is a species of mangrove found on coasts and river banks in East Africa and the Indo-Pacific region. Description ''Rhizophora mucronata'' is a small to medium si ...
'', and '' Xylocarpus granatum.'' Mudflats and shallows are dominated by species of '' Potamogeton,
Ruppia ''Ruppia'', also known as the widgeonweeds, ditch grasses or widgeon grass, is the only extant genus in the family Ruppiaceae, with eight known species. These are aquatic plants widespread over much of the world. The genus name honours Heinrich ...
'', and ''
Zostera ''Zostera'' is a small genus of widely distributed seagrasses, commonly called marine eelgrass, or simply seagrass or eelgrass, and also known as seaweed by some fishermen and recreational boaters including yachtsmen. The genus ''Zostera'' con ...
''. Beds of the seagrass '' Thalassodendron ciliatum'' are found in shallow waters. Mangrove diversity generally increases from south to north. In the Nahoon estuary (32°56′S), only ''Avicennia marina, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza'', and ''Rhizophora mucronata'' are present. At Kosi Bay on the South Africa–Mozambique border (27°S), six species are present – ''Avicennia marina, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Rhizophora mucronata, Ceriops tagal, Lumnitzera racemosa'', and ''Xylocarpus granatum''.


Fauna

The mangroves are an important habitat for sea life, birds and animals such as turtles and
crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...
s. Sea life includes
fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, while ...
s, mud crab ''( Scylla serrata)'',
mudskipper Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion ...
s, ''(Periophthalmus kalolo)'' and many species of sea snails and sea slugs. Some marine fishes use the mangroves as mating and spawning grounds. Resident species of birds include the
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
mangrove kingfisher ''(Halcyon senegaloides)''. The mangroves are a breeding area for at least 48 species of birds, including
lesser flamingo The lesser flamingo (''Phoeniconaias minor'') is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and western India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered vagrants. Characteristics The lesse ...
''(Phoeniconaias minor)'',
great white pelican The great white pelican (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') also known as the eastern white pelican, rosy pelican or white pelican is a bird in the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes ...
''(Pelecanus onocrotalus)'', pink-backed pelican ''(Pelecanus rufescens)'', grey-headed gull ''(Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus)'', Cape shoveler ''(Spatula smithii)'',
yellow-billed duck The yellow-billed duck (''Anas undulata'') is a 51–58 cm long dabbling duck which is an abundant resident breeder in southern and eastern Africa. This duck is not migratory, but wanders in the dry season to find suitable waters. It is hig ...
''(Anas undulata)'',
pied avocet The pied avocet (''Recurvirostra avosetta'') is a large black and white wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae. They breed in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to Central Asia then on to the Russian Far East. It is a ...
''(Recurvirostra avosetta)'',
saddle-billed stork The saddle-billed stork or saddlebill (''Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis'') is a large wading bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species which is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa from Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya south t ...
''(Ephippiorhychus senegalensis)'',
yellow-billed stork The yellow-billed stork (''Mycteria ibis''), sometimes also called the wood stork or wood ibis, is a large African wading stork species in the family Ciconiidae. It is widespread in regions south of the Sahara and also occurs in Madagascar. ...
''(Mycteria ibis)'', and Caspian tern ''(Hydroprogne caspia)''. The mangroves are also visited by large numbers of migratory bird species.


Threats and preservation

Many areas of mangrove in southern Africa have been cleared for timber, urban and industrial development, including tourist facilities, and this is ongoing. Further damage to habitats is caused by pollution of rivers, while forest clearance inland causes rivers to bring down larger quantities of soils and the rivers and estuaries to be blocked. About 24% of the ecoregion's area is protected (229 km2), and another 13% is relatively intact but unprotected.Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b

/ref> Protected areas include Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve near
Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
and
iSimangaliso Wetland Park iSimangaliso Wetland Park (previously known as the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park) is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about 235 kilometres north of Durban by road. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, ...
(formerly Greater St Lucia Wetland Park).


References


External links

* {{Biodiversity of South Africa, ecoreg Mangrove ecoregions Ecoregions of South Africa * Forests of South Africa Afrotropical ecoregions Temperate Southern Africa