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Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of eastern Africa. It is a southern variation of Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic.

Setting

The ecoregion extends along the coast of Tanzania and Mozambique, from Tanzania's Lukuledi River south almost the whole way to the mouth of the Limpopo River. The ecoregion supports habitats of forest, savanna and swamps.

The ecoregion is bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean. To the north, it abuts the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic. It transitions to drier open woodlands to the west – the Eastern Miombo woodlands at the northern end, the Zambezian and Mopane woodlands in the central portion, and the Southern Miombo woodlands at the southern end. To the south, it borders the Maputaland coastal forest mosaic. It also includes some small offshore islands in Mozambique, including the Quirimbas Islands and Bazarruto Archipelago.

The ecoregion is mostly coastal, generally within 50 km of the Indian Ocean. It encompasses coastal lowlands, rolling hills, and isolated plateaus and inselbergs, including the Rondo and Makonde plateaus in southern Tanzania and the Mueda Plateau in northern Mozambique. It includes some isolated mountainous enclaves further inland, including Mount Chiperone, Mount Mabu, Mount Morrumbala, Mount Namuli, and Mount Tumbine in Mozambique. The mountains intercept humid southwesterly winds from the Indian Ocean, which form clouds and rain and create a cooler, wetter climate than the surrounding lowlands. These mountains are home to lowland evergreen forests with a similar flora to the coastal lowland forests, and higher-elevation montane forests, woodlands, grasslands, and heathlands which are home to many Afromontane species.^[1]

The southern portion of the ecoregion is not very well known due to the prolonged civil war in Mozambique.

Climate

The climate is tropical in the northern portion, becoming sub-tropical at the southern end. In the area around Lindi in Tanzania there is one long dry season and one wet season. Rainfall is 800–1000 mm per year, and is higher on some of the plateaus and mountains. The climate is similar in the Mozambican portion, although rainfall is lower (800 mm) in northern Mozambique, which is in the rain shadow of Madagascar. Mean maximum temperatures are 30-27° C in the north and 24° C in the south, and mean minimum temperature is 18-15° C throughout the ecoregion.^[2]

Protected areas

Protected areas within the ecoregion include:

• 
  Rondo Forest Reserve, Tanzania


• 
  Bazaruto National Park, Mozambique


• Caça do Gilé wildlife reserve (part), Mozambique


• 
  Gorongosa National Park (part), Mozambique


• 
  Pomene National Reserve, Mozambique


• 
  Quirimbas National Park, Mozambique

See also

• Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests


• Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

References

• Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D’Amico Hales, Emma Underwood (2004). Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington DC.

External links

• Eastern Africa Coastal Forests (WWF)


• Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic (Encyclopedia of Earth)

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