The Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located within the Matlacha Pass estuary, approximately 8 miles northwest of Fort Myers, Florida. The 538 acre (2.2 km2) refuge was established on September 26, 1908. The islands were established as a "preserve and breeding ground for native birds" by President Theodore Roosevelt. It is administered as part of the J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The Maranhão mangroves 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 mangroves to extend up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) inland, where they are interspersed with other rainforest species.
The Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves ecoregion, in the Mangrove biome, are along the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras as well as off shore islands such as the Corn Islands.
The Aguirre State Forest is a 2,393-acre (9.68 km2) nature reserve on the south coast of Puerto Rico and one of the commonwealth's 20 state forests. It mainly consists of mangroves and floodplain forests, and it borders the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Aguirre State Forest is owned and administered by Puerto Rico. It was established in 1918 by Puerto Rico governor Arthur Yager to protect the mangrove forests areas between the municipalities of Guayama and Santa Isabel.
The Guinean mangroves are a coastal ecoregion of mangrove swamps in rivers and estuaries near the ocean of West Africa from Senegal to Sierra Leone.
Cas di torto is a distinctive type of adobe house, specific to the insular region of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. These houses were usually found in the vicinity of plantations. The few structures that still exist are the oldest structures that are left standing on Aruba.
The Belizean Coast mangroves ecoregion covers the brackish and salt-water habitats along the Caribbean Sea coast of Belize, and of Amatique Bay in Guatemala; small parts in the border with Mexico are also present on this ecoregion. The mangroves are partially protected from the open sea by the Belize Barrier Reef, and this ecoregion is distinct from the reef-based Belizean Reef mangroves ecoregion offshore. There is a large population of the vulnerable West Indian manatee in the area. It covers an area of around 2850 km2.
The Amapá mangroves (NT1402) is an ecoregion 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 mangroves 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.
The Pará mangroves (NT1427) is an ecoregion along the Atlantic coast of the state of Pará in Brazil. They constitute the western extension of the Maranhão mangroves ecoregion. The mangroves are relatively intact, although they are under some pressure from agriculture and logging.
The Belizean reef mangroves ecoregion covers the mangrove habitats along the islands and cayes of the Belize Barrier Reef. This ecoregion is distinct from the mainland Belizean Coast mangroves ecoregion, and may be considered a sub-unit of the overall Mesoamerican Gulf-Caribbean mangroves ecoregion.
The Coastal Venezuelan mangroves ecoregion covers the salt-water mangrove forests along the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean coast of Venezuela, from Cocinetas Basin to the edge of the Caño Manamo River and the Orinoco Delta in the east. It is one of the largest mangrove ecoregions in South America, with an area of 5,698 km2, and stretching across over 400 km of Venezuelan coastline.
The Lesser Antilles mangroves ecoregion covers the salt-water habitats along the coasts of the islands on the divide between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. the included islands stretch from Anguilla in the north to the island of Grenada in the south. The species diversity of these small islands is less than that of the larger islands of the Greater Antilles with to the west, but endemism is high due to the relative isolation of the different islands.
The Magdalena-Santa Marta mangroves ecoregion covers the mangrove forests along the coast of Colombia on the Caribbean Sea, from Gulf of Urabá in the west at the Colombia-Panama border to the Guajira Peninsula in the east. The region is relatively dry, with low precipitation and high evapotranspiration, so the mangroves depend for water and nutrients on the rivers flowing across the estuarine plain from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains to the east. Efforts are currently underway to restore mangroves degraded by development and road building from the 1950s to 1980s.
The Mexican South Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion covers the mangrove sites along the coast of the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico, across the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. These mangrove forests are mostly around lagoons, typically those fed by rivers from the interior in the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains. The ecoregion is small: collectively, it covers only 1,295 km2.
The Moist Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion covers a series of disconnected mangrove sites along the Pacific Ocean coast of Costa Rica and Panama. These sites occur mostly on coastal flatlands around lagoons, particularly where rivers from the inland mountains reach the sea, bringing fresh water to the coastal forests. The area is in a transition zone from the drier coastline to the north; rainfall in this ecoregions is over 2,000 mm/year, and reaches over 3,600 mm/year at the southern end.
The Mayan Corridor mangroves ecoregion covers the mangrove habitats along the Caribbean Sea coast of the state of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico and a narrow strip on the north of Belize. The region is named for the Maya Civilization archeological sites along the coast. Biodiversity in the area high due to the interactions of different environments - coastal lagoons, river estuaries, coral reefs, and barrier beaches. The ecoregion supports Mexico's largest population of crocodiles.
The Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves ecoregion covers a series of small of discontinuous mangrove forests on the Caribbean Sea coast of Costa Rica, from a small portion inside the border with Nicaragua in the west to the border with Panama in the east. The coast on this stretch is a flat, alluvial plain, and mangroves are only a small part of a diverse patchwork of local habitats including swamps, mixed rainforests, coastal lagoons, sea grass beds, and sandy beaches. Much of the territory is "blackwater river" in character - slow-moving channels in wooded swamps with water stained by decayed matter. These mangroves are periodically damaged by hurricanes, such as in 1988 from Hurricane Joan, but are able to regenerate.
The Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion covers a series of mangrove forests along the Pacific Ocean coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, from the southern margin of the Gulf of Fonseca to the Gulf of Nicoya near the border with Panama. Because the area is drier than the mangroves further south, evapotranspiration leaves some areas with higher salinity and even salt pans in the internal areas.
The Trinidad mangroves ecoregion covers the separate mangrove forest areas on the coast of the island of Trinidad, in the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The character of the mangroves is affected by the large amount of fresh water flowing out of the Orinoco River and Amazon River to the south, which flow northwest around the island. The mangroves of Trinidad are found on all coasts, and are usually in the estuaries of rivers, but also found in coastal lagoons.
The Usumacinta mangroves ecoregion covers the mangrove forests ont the Gulf Coast of Mexico, around the margins of the Laguna de Términos. The "Ends" in the name refer to the mouths of the rivers that empty into the lagoon, including the Usumacinta River. This region, which is due south of the mouth of the Mississippi River across the Gulf of Mexico, receives an estimated one-third of the wintering birds migrating on the Mississippi Flyway. It is estimated that the lagoon supports 90 endangered species.
