The Amapá mangroves (NT1402) is an
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 ...
along the Atlantic coast of the state of
Amapá in Brazil.
The low coastal plain has been formed from recent sedimentation, including sediments deposited by the rivers and sediments carried northward from the mouth of the
Amazon River by strong currents and deposited by the tides.
The extensive
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 severa ...
s grow on the newly formed coastal mudflats and along the edges of estuaries.
They merge into freshwater
várzea flooded forests further inland.
The ecoregion is generally well-preserved, although excessive extraction of natural resources including timber and shrimps is a concern.
Location
The Amapá mangroves cover an area of .
They run along the Atlantic coast to the north of the mouth of the
Amazon River up to the mouth of the
Cassiporé River.
The ecoregion is naturally fragmented, with patches of mangroves developing where the conditions are suitable for their growth.
The mangroves form the coastal margin of the
Marajó várzea
The Marajó várzea (NT0138) is an ecoregion of seasonally and tidally flooded várzea forest in the Amazon biome.
It covers a region of sedimentary islands and floodplains at the mouth of the Amazon that is flooded twice daily as the ocean tides ...
ecoregion.
They are part of the larger
Guianan-Amazon Mangroves global ecoregion, which also includes the
Maranhão mangroves
The Maranhão mangroves (in Portuguese: ''Reentrâncias Maranhenses'') is a mangrove ecoregion of northern Brazil. It supports half of the shorebird population of the country.
The combination of flat land, heavy rainfall and high tides causes the ...
,
Pará mangroves and
Guianan mangroves
The Guianan mangroves (NT1411) is a coastal ecoregion of southeastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil.
The mangroves provide an important habitat for migrating birds that winter in the area.
Large areas are intact, although t ...
.
Physical
The flat coastal plain of Amapá is made up of
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
epoch deposits, and is flooded by freshwater rivers and by the tides.
Tidal range is about , and tidal influence extends far into the interior.
Strong ocean currents run along the coast.
The currents carry fresh water and sediments from the Amazon basin northward, depositing the sediments to form unstable islands and mudflats of fine-grained clay that are colonized as they form by the mangroves.
A complex network of natural canals runs through the mangroves.
The low terrain and high tides let the mangroves reach to inland.
The ecoregion has a humid tropical climate.
Mean temperatures are from .
Annual rainfall is up to , with a dry season that lasts only two months.
Ecology
The ecoregion is in the
Neotropical realm
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeo ...
and the
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 severa ...
biome.
Origins
A study of sediment cores from the coastal plain near
Calçoene
Calçoene () is a municipality located in the east of the state of Amapá in Brazil. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean in the Amazon jungle basin near French Guiana. Calçoene covers and has a population is 11,306. The name Calçoene is a corru ...
gives information on the way in which the mangrove and
várzea flooded forest have evolved during the late
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
epoch.
Sediment from 2100 years before the present shows no sign of mangroves.
This was followed by a phase where mud filled depressions and tidal channels.
Mangroves developed on the edge of the channels and herbaceous field on the higher land.
In the next phase mangrove development halted and várzea vegetation expanded, indicating more freshwater and less sea water in the area.
In the last and present phase both the várzea and the mangroves have been increasing in area, probably due to a rise in the sea level relative to the land.
Flora
The ecoregion holds about 13% of Brazilian mangrove formations.
The mangroves along the Amapá coastal plain form zones parallel to the shoreline where different species of mangroves have responded differently to frequency of flooding, waterlogging, availability of nutrients,
soil salinity and volume of freshwater from the rivers, the last depending on rainfall.
The dense mangrove forests mainly consist of
Avicennia
''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which are ...
,
Rhizophora
''Rhizophora'' is a genus of tropical mangrove trees, sometimes collectively called true mangroves. The most notable species is the red mangrove (''Rhizophora mangle'') but some other species and a few natural hybrids are known. ''Rhizophora'' ...
and
Laguncularia
''Laguncularia'' is a genus of plants in the family Combretaceae
The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lian ...
species.
They extend from the mean tidal level to the high spring tide.
The mangroves extend inland along estuaries for up to .
On the recently formed coastal land the mangroves are mainly in the
Avicennia
''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which are ...
family, with canopies of in height.
''
Avicennia germinans
''Avicennia germinans'', the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters (39 feet) in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, ...
'' and ''
Avicennia schaueriana
''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which are ...
'' are common, with the latter growing up to high.
Away from the coast the ''
Rhizophora mangle
''Rhizophora mangle'', the red mangrove, is distributed in estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. These are disperse ...
'' is more common, often lying behind a fringe of ''
Laguncularia racemosa
''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda an ...
'' or sometimes the lily ''
Montrichardia arborescens
''Montrichardia arborescens'', the yautia madera, or moco-moco, is a tropical plant grows along river banks, swamps, or creeks to a maximum height of 9'. They consist of arrow shaped leaves that are food sources for animal species. The plant prod ...
.
Other mangroves found further inland are ''
Rhizophora racemosa
''Rhizophora racemosa'' is a species of mangrove tree in the family Rhizophoraceae. It has a patchy distribution on the Pacific coast of Central and South America, occurs in places on the Atlantic coast of that continent, and has a more widesprea ...
'', ''
Rhizophora harrisonii
''Rhizophora harrisonni'' is a species of plant in the family Rhizophoraceae. It can be found in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela.
De ...
'', ''
Laguncularia racemosa
''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda an ...
'' and ''
Conocarpus erectus
''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
Range
Locations it is known from inc ...
''.
Non-tree species that grow among the mangroves are ''
Spartina alterniflora
''Sporobolus alterniflorus'', or synonymously known as ''Spartina alterniflora'', the smooth cordgrass, saltmarsh cordgrass, or salt-water cordgrass, is a perennial deciduous grass which is found in intertidal wetlands, especially estuarine salt ...
'' on the margin facing the sea, and ''
Hibiscus tiliaceus
''Hibiscus tiliaceus'', commonly known as the sea hibiscus or coast cottonwood, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae, with a pantropical distribution along coastlines. It has also been introduced to Florida and New Zea ...
'' and ''
Acrostichum aureum'' on inland margins and dry parches within the mangroves.
The heavy rainfall and freshwater from the many rivers from the interior create low salinity so that palms such as
açaí (''Euterpe oleracea'') and ''
Attalea speciosa
''Attalea speciosa'', the babassu, babassu palm, ''babaçu, or cusi'', is a palm native to the Amazon Rainforest region in South America. The babassu palm is the predominant species in the Maranhão Babaçu forests of Maranhão and Piauí state ...
''
and freshwater
macrophytes such as ''
Montrichardia arborescens
''Montrichardia arborescens'', the yautia madera, or moco-moco, is a tropical plant grows along river banks, swamps, or creeks to a maximum height of 9'. They consist of arrow shaped leaves that are food sources for animal species. The plant prod ...
'' and ''
Mora oleifera
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* ...
'' can grow among the mangroves.
Other tropical forest species found among the mangroves include ''
Dalbergia brownei
''Dalbergia'' is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade (or tribe): the Dalbergieae. The g ...
'' and ''
Rhabdadenia biflora
''Rhabdadenia'' is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae first described as a genus in 1860. It is native to South America, Central America, southern Mexico, the West Indies, and Florida.Morales, J.F. (2009). Estudios en las Apocynaceae Neot ...
''.
Fauna
![Calidris-pusilla-001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Calidris-pusilla-001.jpg)
Mammals including
howler monkey
Howler monkeys (genus ''Alouatta'', monotypic in subfamily Alouattinae) are the most widespread primate genus in the Neotropics and are among the largest of the platyrrhines along with the muriquis (''Brachyteles''), the spider monkeys (''Atele ...
s (Alouatta genus),
black bearded saki (''Chiropotes satanas''),
tufted capuchin
The tufted capuchin (''Sapajus apella''), also known as brown capuchin, black-capped capuchin, or pin monkey is a New World primate from South America and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Margarita. As traditionally defined, it is one of th ...
(''Sapajus apella''),
crab-eating fox
The crab-eating fox (''Cerdocyon thous''), also known as the forest fox, wood fox, bushdog (not to be confused with the bush dog) or maikong, is an extant species of medium-sized canid endemic to the central part of South America since at least ...
(''Cerdocyon thous''),
tayra
The tayra (''Eira barbara'') is an omnivorous animal from the weasel family, native to the Americas. It is the only species in the genus ''Eira''.
Tayras are also known as the ''tolomuco'' or ''perico ligero'' in Central America, ''motete'' in ...
(''Eira barbara''),
jaguarundi (''Puma yagouaroundi''),
ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis''),
margay
The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal cat, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest.
Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlif ...
(''Leopardus wiedii''),
jaguar (''Panthera onca''),
cougar (''Puma concolor''),
lowland paca
The lowland paca (''Cuniculus paca''), also known as the spotted paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from east-central Mexico to northern Argentina, and has been introduced to Cuba and Algeria.
The animal is cal ...
(''Cuniculus paca''),
capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris''),
South American tapir
The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushco ...
(''Tapirus terrestris''),
South American coati
The South American coati (''Nasua nasua''), also known as the ring-tailed coati, is a coati species and a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), found in the tropical and subtropical parts of South America. An adult generally weighs from a ...
(''Nasua nasua''),
crab-eating raccoon (''Procyon cancrivorus''),
neotropical otter (''Lontra longicaudis''),
giant otter
The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of muste ...
(''Pteronura brasiliensis''),
tucuxi
The tucuxi (''Sotalia fluviatilis''), alternatively known in Peru ''bufeo gris'' or ''bufeo negro'', is a species of freshwater dolphin found in the rivers of the Amazon basin. The word ''tucuxi'' is derived from the Tupi language word ''tuchu ...
(''Sotalia fluviatilis'') and
West Indian manatee
The West Indian manatee (''Trichechus manatus''), also known as the North American manatee, is a large, aquatic mammal native to warm coastal areas of the Caribbean, from the eastern US to northern Brazil. Living alone or in herds, it feeds on un ...
(''Trichechus manatus'').
The
green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas'') and
leatherback sea turtle
The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weight ...
(''Dermochelys coriacea'') also use the mangroves.
Birds adapted to the mangrove environment include
orange-winged amazon
The orange-winged amazon (''Amazona amazonica''), also known locally as orange-winged parrot and loro guaro, is a large amazon parrot. It is a resident breeding bird in tropical South America, from Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago south to Peru, Bo ...
(''Amazona amazonica''),
cocoi heron
The cocoi heron (''Ardea cocoi'') is a species of long-legged wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae found across South America. It has predominantly pale grey plumage with a darker grey crest. A carnivore, it hunts fish and crustaceans in sh ...
(''Ardea cocoi''),
rufous crab hawk
The rufous crab hawk (''Buteogallus aequinoctialis'') or rufous crab-hawk, is a Near Threatened species of bird of prey in subfamily Accipitrinae, the "true" hawks, of family Accipitridae.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Clara ...
(''Buteogallus aequinoctialis''),
striated heron
The striated heron (''Butorides striata'') also known as mangrove heron, little green heron or green-backed heron, is a small heron, about 44 cm tall. Striated herons are mostly sedentary and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. The ...
(''Butorides striata''),
semipalmated sandpiper
The semipalmated sandpiper (''Calidris pusilla'') is a very small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''pusilla'' is Lati ...
(''Calidris pusilla''),
great egret
The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...
(''Ardea alba''),
green kingfisher
The green kingfisher (''Chloroceryle americana'') is a species of "water kingfisher" in subfamily Cerylinae of family Alcedinidae. It is found from southern Texas in the United States south through Central America, in every mainland South Amer ...
(''Chloroceryle americana''),
bicolored conebill (''Conirostrum bicolor''),
greater ani (''Crotophaga major''),
little blue heron
The little blue heron (''Egretta caerulea'') is a small heron of the genus '' Egretta''. It is a small, darkly colored heron with a two-toned bill. Juveniles are entirely white, bearing resemblance to the snowy egret. During the breeding season ...
(''Egretta caerulea''),
scarlet ibis
The scarlet ibis (''Eudocimus ruber'') is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae. It inhabits tropical South America and part of the Caribbean. In form, it resembles most of the other twenty-seven extant species of ibis, but it ...
(''Eudocimus ruber'') and
wattled jacana
The wattled jacana (''Jacana jacana'') is a wader which is a resident breeder from western Panama and Trinidad south through most of South America east of the Andes.
Breeding
The wattled jacana lays four black-marked brown eggs in a floating n ...
(''Jacana jacana'').
Status
The mangroves are the best-preserved in the Americas.
The
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an 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 the Wo ...
gives the ecoregion the status "Relatively Stable/Intact".
It is relatively inaccessible and has few people.
The mangroves provide a source of crabs and seafood to the local artisanal fishermen, who use the mangrove wood for fuel and for building boats and dwellings, and use the bark to make
tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.
The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...
for dying the sails of their boats.
The main threat is unsustainable exploitation, particularly commercial extraction of wood and other forest products, sea food and minerals, and conversion of the land into pasturage.
Offshore oil extraction also poses a threat, since an oil spill could have a devastating effect on the mangroves and thus on fish stocks.
The ecoregion is protected by several conservation units including the
Cabo Orange National Park
The Cabo Orange National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Cabo Orange) is a National park located in Amapá state in the north of Brazil, near the border between Brazil and French Guiana.
Location
The Cabo Orange National Park has an area of .
It ...
.
The
Maracá-Jipioca Ecological Station
Maracá-Jipioca Ecological Station ( pt, Estação ecológica de Maracá-Jipioca) is an ecological station covering two islands about offshore from Amapá, a municipality in Amapá state, Brazil. It protects an area of coastal mangroves and tropi ...
protects the Ilhas de Maracá, two islands about offshore in
Amapá municipality.
The shoreline and stream banks are dominated by mangroves, with typical floodplain species of trees in the more elevated areas.
The conservation units are part of the
Amapá Biodiversity Corridor
The Amapá Biodiversity Corridor ( pt, Corredor de Biodiversidade do Amapá) is an ecological corridor in the state of Amapá, Brazil. It provides a degree of integrated management for conservation units and other areas covering over 70% of the ...
, which contains the largest stretch of protected mangroves in the Americas.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:
Ecoregions of Brazil
Amazon biome
Mangrove ecoregions
Neotropical ecoregions