The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

coast of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. It covers an area of in southern

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

, and the

KwaZulu-Natal Province KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Mozambique's capital

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

lies within the ecoregion.

Geography

The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic occupies the humid coastal strip along the Indian Ocean, inland to the

Lebombo Mountains The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains, Rivombo Mountains (), are an , narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa ...

for much of its length. This is part of a strip of moist coastal forests that extend along Africa's Indian Ocean coast from southern

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

to South Africa. The northern limit of the ecoregion is north of the mouth of the

Limpopo River The Limpopo River () rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mou ...

, near Xai-Xai in Mozambique, where the forests transition to the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic. The southern limit is near the St Lucia estuary in KwaZulu-Natal, where the Maputaland forests transition to the Kwazulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic.

Climate

The ecoregion has a seasonally moist, tropical to subtropical climate. Rainfall ranges from 1000 mm per year near the coast to less than 600 mm per year inland. Most of the rain falls in the summer months. The coastal strip includes areas of wetland, the largest of which is Lake St. Lucia, the largest estuarine system in Africa.

Flora

The ecoregion comprises a mosaic of many different plant communities, from the forest of the Lemombo Mountains through

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, woodland, palm veld,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

, sand dunes with patches of dense sand forest, and

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

habitats. The flora of the region includes a number of endemic species.

Fauna

The 100 species of mammal found here include the African elephant (''

Loxodonta africana The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), also known as the African savanna elephant, is a species of elephant native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of three extant elephant species and, along with the African forest elephant, one ...

''), now contained in reserves along the coast, and large predators, of which leopard ('' Panthera pardus'') are the most common. More than 470 bird species are found here, of which 4 are endemic and 43 near-endemic.

Threats and preservation

The South African portion of this region is under threat of change due to increasing population and the introduction of foreign plant species such as the shrub ''

Chromolaena odorata ''Chromolaena odorata'' is also known as Jack in the Bush. It is a tropical and subtropical species of Flowering plant, flowering shrub in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Americas, from Florida and Texas in the United States so ...

'', Australian

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

s, guava (''

Psidium guajava ''Psidium guajava'', the common guava, yellow guava, lemon guava, or apple guava is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It is easily pollinator, pollinated by insects; when cultivated, it ...

''), pines and eucalyptus. In Mozambique this coast is not so heavily populated but the area is affected by forestry and other projects including the

Pongolapoort Dam Pongolapoort Dam, commonly referred to as Jozini Dam creating Lake Jozini, is an arch type dam (double-curvature single-arch) in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa located on the Phongolo River. The dam is situated just north of the settleme ...

and irrigation schemes. According to the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

, 14% of the ecoregion is protected in reserves. Protected areas in the ecoregion include

iSimangaliso Wetland Park iSimangaliso Wetland Park is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about north of Durban by road. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, spanning of coastline, from the Mozambique, Mozambican border in the n ...

(formerly Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park – 3,280 km²) in KwaZulu-Natal, and

Maputo Special Reserve Maputo Special Reserve (formerly known as Maputo Elephant Reserve) is a nature reserve in Mozambique. The reserve is located on Maputo Bay, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of the city of Maputo, Mozambique. The Reserve is 1,040 km2 ...

(900 km²) in Mozambique, which has lost most of its large mammals and is being increasingly settled. There are plans to link the Maputo Reserve with Tembe Elephant Park of South Africa in the large cross-border Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which would allow elephants to roam more freely. There is little game left along this coast outside of the reserves. left, 750px, Woodlands of Ndumo Game Reserve

External links

References

{{Biodiversity of South Africa, tereco Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Mozambique Ecoregions of South Africa Ecoregions of Eswatini Flora of Mozambique Flora of Southern Africa Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests