The Zambezian region is a large

biogeographical Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

region in Africa. The Zambezian region includes woodlands, savannas, grasslands, and thickets, extending from east to west in a broad belt across the continent. The Zambezian region lies south of the rainforests of the

Guineo-Congolian region The Guineo-Congolian region is a biogeographical region in Africa straddling the Equator and stretching from the Atlantic Ocean through the Congo Basin to the Congo / Nile divide in Rwanda and Burundi. Formerly, this region was largely covered in ...

. The Zambezian region is bounded by deserts and xeric shrublands on the southwest, the Highveld grasslands of South Africa to the south, and the subtropical Maputaland forests on the southeast.

Vegetation types

The dominant vegetation types in the Zambezian region include: * Dry deciduous forest and scrub forest * Zambezian wooded grassland * Itigi deciduous thicket * Miombo woodland * Mopane woodland * Undifferentiated woodland * Zambezian flooded grasslands and savannas * Zambezian halophytics

Biodiversity

Botanist Frank White estimated that the region has 8500 species of plants, of which 4590, or 54%, are

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 ...

. The Zambezian region is a centre of diversity for tree species in the genera ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezi ...

'' and ''

Monotes ''Monotes'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. Its name, meaning "unity" or "uniqueness" was chosen because it was the only genus of dipterocarp then known to occur in Africa. The Zambezian region is the centre of dive ...

''.

Ecoregions

According to 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 W ...

, the Zambezian region includes over a dozen

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 ...

s.Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D'Amico Hales, Emma Underwood, et al. (2004). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment''. World Wildlife Fund. Island Press, 2004 * Angolan miombo woodlands (Angola) *

Angolan mopane woodlands Angolan mopane woodlands are situated in southwestern Angola, extending into northern Namibia. This ecosystem surrounds Etosha Pan, which is considered a separate ecoregion. The mopane trees are the main type of vegetation. Location and descript ...

(Angola, Namibia) *

Bushveld The Bushveld (from af, bosveld, af, bos 'bush' and af, veld) is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of the North West Province of South Africa, the Central and Nort ...

(South Africa, Zimbabwe) *

Central Zambezian miombo woodlands The Central Zambezian miombo woodlands ecoregion spans southern central Africa. Miombo woodland is the predominant plant community. It is one of the largest ecoregions on the continent, and home to a great variety of wildlife, including many larg ...

(Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia) *

Eastern miombo woodlands The Eastern miombo woodlands (AT0706) are an ecoregion of grassland and woodland in northern Mozambique, southern Tanzania, and southeastern Malawi. Setting These species-rich savanna ecosystems cover wide areas of gentle hills and low valleys co ...

(Mozambique, Tanzania) * Etosha Pan halophytics (Namibia) * Itigi-Sumbu thicket (Tanzania, Zambia) *

Southern miombo woodlands The Southern miombo woodlands is a tropical grasslands and woodlands ecoregion extending across portions of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is one of four miombo woodlands ecoregions that span the African continent south of the Con ...

(Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe) *

Western Zambezian grasslands The Western Zambezian grasslands is a tropical grassland ecoregion of eastern Zambia and adjacent parts of Angola. It is situated in two sections, to the north and south of the Barotse Floodplain. The region supports herds of ungulates, includin ...

(Angola, Zambia) *

Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands The Zambezian '' Baikiaea'' woodlands is an ecoregion in Africa. It includes dry deciduous forest and woodland, thicket, and grassland, dominated by the tree ''Baikiaea plurijuga''. The ecoregion has a semi-arid climate, and is a transition betwee ...

(Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe) *

Zambezian Cryptosepalum dry forests The Zambezian dry evergreen forest, also known as the Zambezian ''Cryptosepalum'' dry forest, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of Southern Africa. It consists of several areas of thick forest in western Zambia and adjacent Angola. It i ...

(Angola, Zambia) *

Zambezian coastal flooded savanna The Zambezian coastal flooded savanna is a flooded grasslands and savannas ecoregion in Mozambique. It includes the coastal flooded savannas and grasslands in the deltas of the Zambezi, Pungwe, Buzi, and Save rivers. Geography The Zambezi, P ...

(Mozambique) *

Zambezian flooded grasslands The Zambezian flooded grasslands is an ecoregion of southern and eastern Africa that is rich in wildlife. Setting The Zambezian flooded grasslands can be found on seasonally- or permanently-flooded lowlands in the basin of the Zambezi and neighbo ...

(Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia) *

Zambezian halophytics The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikg ...

(Botswana, Mozambique) *

Zambezian and mopane woodlands The Zambezian and mopane woodlands is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion of southeastern Africa. The ecoregion is characterized by the mopane tree ''(Colophospermum mopane)'', and extends across portions ...

(Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

References

Afrotropical realm Floristic regions {{ecoregion-stub