The Rio Sao Francisco mangroves

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 ...

(WWF ID: NT1433) covers series of

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 ...

forests along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

coast of eastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, from the outskirts of

Maceió Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form l ...

southwards to just south of Salvador, Bahia. This ecoregion has high biodiversity, as it lies in different sub-climate zones, with a dry season in the north but not in the south.

Location and description

The ecoregion exists in patches of mangrove forests, mostly around river estuaries, along 500 km of the coast of eastern Brazil. This length of coast covers much of the states of

Alagoas Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...

Sergipe Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...

, and

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

. The ecoregion's mangroves are most significant in three areas: *

Barra de São Miguel, Alagoas Barra de São Miguel is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Alagoas. Its population is 8,378 (2020) and its area is 77 km2.Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - Geograph ...

, around the margins of the inlet of the Lagoa do Roteiro. This relatively small sector is surrounded by the

Pernambuco coastal forests The Pernambuco coastal forests is an ecoregion of the Tropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, and the South American Atlantic Forest biome. It is located in northeastern Brazil. Geography The Pernambuco coastal forests occupy an 80 km-wide s ...

ecoregion. * São Francisco River Estuary, the mouth of the fourth longest river in South America. Also in this sector is the mouth of the

Sergipe River The Sergipe River (Portuguese: ''Rio Sergipe'') is a river of Sergipe state in northeastern Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Sergipe List of rivers in Sergipe (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin from north to south, w ...

at the city of

Aracaju Aracaju () is the capital of the state of Sergipe, Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country on the coast, about 350 km (217 mi) north of Salvador. According to the 2020 estimate, the city has 664,908 inhabitants, which rep ...

. The

Vaza-Barris River The Vaza-Barris River ( pt, Rio Vaza-Barris) is a river in northeastern Brazil. The Vaza-Barris originates in northeastern Bahia state, and flows east through Bahia and Sergipe states to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near São Cristóvão. Cour ...

also enters the Atlantic in this region. This sector is surrounded by the

Pernambuco interior forests The "Pernambuco" interior forests (in reality Paraiba and Pernambuco forest/states and not only "Pernambuco") is an ecoregion of the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, and the South American Atlantic Forest biome. It lies in e ...

ecoregion. *

Bay of All Saints The Bay of All Saints ( pt, Baía de Todos os Santos), also known as All Saints' Bay and Todos os Santos Bay, is the principal bay of the Brazilian state of Bahia, to which it gave its name. It sits on the eastern coast of Brazil, surrounding p ...

in the state of

, and the city of Salvador, Bahia. Feeding this bay is the

Paraguaçu River The Paraguaçu River () is a river in Bahia state of eastern Brazil. It runs from the Chapada Diamantina highlands of central Bahia to its mouth at the Baía de Todos os Santos. The Paraguaçu is the largest river entirely within Bahia. Its banks ...

. This sector is surrounded by the

Bahia coastal forests The Bahia coastal forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of eastern Brazil, part of the larger Atlantic Forest region. Setting The Bahia coastal forests occupy a belt approximately wide along the Atlantic coast of eastern Braz ...

ecoregion.

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is ''

Tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(Am)). This climate is characterized by relatively even temperatures throughout the year (all months being greater than average temperature), and a pronounced dry season. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation, but more than (100-(average/25) mm. This climate is mid-way between a tropical rainforest and a tropical savannah. The dry month usually at or right after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Precipitation averages 1,250 to 1,500 mm/year. The dry season in the north lasts 4–5 months.

Flora and fauna

The mangroves of the area are surrounded by beaches on the coast, and forest and coastal retsingas on the inland side. The characteristic mangrove trees species are red mangrove (''

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 ...

''), black mangrove ('' Aviccenia shaueriana''), and white mangrove (''

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 ...

''). The region is important resting and feeding stop for long-distance migratory birds such as the ruddy turnstone (''

Arenaria interpres The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plov ...

''), spotted sandpiper (''

Actitis macularia The spotted sandpiper (''Actitis macularius'') is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species the common sandpiper (''A. hypoleucos''), it makes up the genus ''Actitis''. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle dow ...

''), and whimbrel (''

Numenius phaeopus The Eurasian whimbrel or common whimbrel (''Numenius phaeopus'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Asia and Europe as far south as Scotland. This speci ...

'').

Rio Sergipe entre Aracaju e Barra dos Coqueiros 03

Protected areas

Officially protected areas in the ecoregion include: * Piaçabuçu Environmental Protection Area * Área de Proteção Ambiental Mangue Seco, near the village of

Mangue Seco Mangue Seco is a beach village in Jandaíra, Bahia, Brazil. It is famous in Brazil because of a soap-opera (telenovela) adaptation of the novel ''Tieta do Agreste'', by the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, which was shot on its white beaches in 1996 ...

Santa Isabel Biological Reserve Santa Isabel Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica de Santa Isabel) is a biological reserve on the coast of the municipalities of Pacatuba and Pirambu in Sergipe, Brazil. Location The coastal marine reserve, with an area of , was created ...

References

{{reflist Neotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Brazil Mangrove ecoregions