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48-613: The Highlands are home to the Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion . The ecoregion includes the portion of the highlands above 1000 meters elevation, including the Inyangani Mountains, Bvumba Mountains, Chimanimani Mountains , Chipinge Uplands, and the isolated Mount Gorongosa further east in Mozambique. The Southern miombo woodlands ecoregion lies at lower elevations east and west of

96-415: A given ecoregion are more similar to each other than to those of surrounding ecoregions and together form a conservation unit. Freshwater systems include rivers , streams , lakes , and wetlands . Freshwater ecoregions are distinct from terrestrial ecoregions, which identify biotic communities of the land, and marine ecoregions, which are biotic communities of the oceans. A map of Freshwater Ecoregions of

144-415: A high canopy, lianas , and a rich undergrowth. There are larger areas of dry forest at higher altitudes in places where the ground is well watered and on drier slopes patches of miombo woodland ( Brachystegia spiciformis , Brachystegia tamarindoides and Uapaca kirkiana ) and areas of heathland at higher elevations. There are patches of the tall, evergreen mobola plum Parinari curatellifolia near

192-502: A high plateau with several ridges running north and south. Monte Binga on the border is the highest peak in Mozambique and the second-highest in Zimbabwe. Mussapa Gap is a pass through the mountains that follows the eastward-flowing Mussapa Grande River and westward-flowing Nyanyadzi River. Mussapa Gap was an important trade and migration route through the highlands for centuries. The Rusitu-Tanganda fault, an east-west rift that carries

240-469: A holistic, "weight-of-evidence" approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the algorithmic approach is Robert Bailey 's work for the U.S. Forest Service, which uses a hierarchical classification that first divides land areas into very large regions based on climatic factors, and subdivides these regions, based first on dominant potential vegetation, and then by geomorphology and soil characteristics. The weight-of-evidence approach

288-680: A northeastern spur, Monte Vumba, reaches into Mozambique. Agricultural Burma Valley lies south and east of the Bvumba Mountains. South of Burma Valley, the Tsetsera, Gweni, and Tandara plateaus lie along the border, separated by east-west river valleys lying in fault rifts. The Chimanimani Mountains lie south of the Mussapa Pequeno River, which divides them from the Tandara plateau. The Chimanimani range consists of

336-565: A saddle between the Nyanga and Bvumba mountains. The main east-west road through the highlands is the A3 (Zimbabwe) - N6 (Mozambique), which connects the port of Beira in Mozambique to Zimbabwe's capital Harare via Chimoio , Manica , and Mutare, with a border crossing at Machipanda . The Beira–Bulawayo railway also crosses the highlands at Machipanda. The Bvumba Mountains are centrally situated south of Mutare . They lie mostly in Zimbabwe, but

384-517: A set of ecoregions identified by WWF whose conservation would achieve the goal of saving a broad diversity of the Earth's ecosystems, includes a number of areas highlighted for their freshwater biodiversity values. The Global 200 preceded Freshwater Ecoregions of the World and incorporated information from regional freshwater ecoregional assessments that had been completed at that time. Sources related to

432-407: A web application developed by Resolve and Google Earth Engine. An ecoregion is a "recurring pattern of ecosystems associated with characteristic combinations of soil and landform that characterise that region". Omernik (2004) elaborates on this by defining ecoregions as: "areas within which there is spatial coincidence in characteristics of geographical phenomena associated with differences in

480-426: Is analogous to that used for terrestrial ecoregions. Major habitat types are identified: polar, temperate shelves and seas, temperate upwelling, tropical upwelling, tropical coral, pelagic (trades and westerlies), abyssal, and hadal (ocean trench). These correspond to the terrestrial biomes . The Global 200 classification of marine ecoregions is not developed to the same level of detail and comprehensiveness as that of

528-622: Is exemplified by James Omernik's work for the United States Environmental Protection Agency , subsequently adopted (with modification) for North America by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation . The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used. For example, the WWF ecoregions were developed to aid in biodiversity conservation planning, and place a greater emphasis than

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576-501: Is ideal for planting tea, coffee and hardwoods. However, much of the original vegetation remains, especially at higher altitudes, which are not suitable for farming. Large areas of the highlands are protected, including Nyanga National Park in the Nyanga Mountains, Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve in the Bvumba Mountains, and Zimbabwe's 171 km Chimanimani National Park and Mozambique's Chimanimani National Reserve in

624-526: Is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible. Secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges; rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome . Biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers, including physical (plate tectonics, topographic highs), climatic (latitudinal variation, seasonal range) and ocean chemical related (salinity, oxygen levels). The history of

672-442: Is smaller than a biogeographic realm . Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species . The biodiversity of flora , fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where

720-551: The Chirinda apalis ( Apalis chirindensis ) and Roberts's warbler ( Oreophilais robertsi ), are endemic to the Eastern Highlands. The Chirinda apalis lives deep in the evergreen forests, while Roberts's warbler inhabits the forest edge. The forests are also full of butterflies, most notably swallowtails such as the emperor swallowtail ( Papilio ophidicephalus ) and the citrus swallowtail ( Papilio demodocus ) and

768-610: The East African Rift and Abyssinian physiographic provinces, part of the long chain of mountains that runs down East Africa . The mountains and mountain ranges that make up the East African Highlands share many common plant and animal species and communities, known as Afromontane flora and fauna. The Highlands have a more equable climate than Zimbabwe's central plateau, with higher rainfall, low cloud and heavy mists and dew as moisture moves inland from

816-608: The Himalayas and the Sahara . The boundaries of ecoregions are often not as decisive or well recognized, and are subject to greater disagreement. Ecoregions are classified by biome type, which are the major global plant communities determined by rainfall and climate. Forests, grasslands (including savanna and shrubland), and deserts (including xeric shrublands ) are distinguished by climate ( tropical and subtropical vs. temperate and boreal climates) and, for forests, by whether

864-583: The Indian Ocean . Many streams and rivers originate in these mountains. The northern portion is drained by tributaries of the Zambezi River , while the southern portion is drained by tributaries of the Save River . The eastern slope is drained by Mozambique's Buzi and Pungwe rivers. Much of the small area consists of rolling hills covered with grassland, which are renewed annually following

912-450: The "ecoregion" as a unit of analysis. The " Global 200 " is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation . Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean "of land" (soil and rock), rather than the more general sense "of Earth " (which includes land and oceans). WWF (World Wildlife Fund) ecologists currently divide

960-580: The Chimanimani Mountains. The Chimanimani park and reserve together form the core of the Chimanimani Transfrontier Conservation Area. 18°43′23″S 32°50′31″E  /  18.723°S 32.842°E  / -18.723; 32.842 Ecoregion An ecoregion ( ecological region ) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion , which in turn

1008-549: The Chivirira (“Place of Boiling”) Falls, and flows down the western side of Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, forming a dry river valley in the rain shadow of these mountains. It is joined by the Runde River or Lundi at the Mozambique border, forming a dramatic confluence at Mahenya. It then crosses Mozambique to flow into the Indian Ocean at about 21°S. The Save River provided irrigation for sugar plantation, but now supports

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1056-558: The Earth. The use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and management of landscapes . It is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is "greater than the sum of its parts". There are many attempts to respond to ecosystems in an integrated way to achieve "multi-functional" landscapes, and various interest groups from agricultural researchers to conservationists are using

1104-552: The Omernik or Bailey systems on floral and faunal differences between regions. The WWF classification defines an ecoregion as: A large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities that: According to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across

1152-611: The WWC scheme: Others: Save River (Africa) The Save River , or Sabi River ( Portuguese : Rio Save ) is a 640 km (400 mi) river of southeastern Africa, flowing through Zimbabwe and Mozambique . The river has its source in Zimbabwe, some 80 km (50 mi) south of Harare , then flows south and then east, from the Zimbabwean highveld to its confluence with the Odzi River . It then turns south, drops over

1200-571: The WWF concept prioritizes biogeography, that is, the distribution of distinct species assemblages. In 2017, an updated terrestrial ecoregions dataset was released in the paper "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm" led by E. Dinerstein with 48 co-authors. Using recent advances in satellite imagery the ecoregion perimeters were refined and the total number reduced to 846 (and later 844), which can be explored on

1248-523: The World (TEOW), led by D. Olsen, E. Dinerstein, E. Wikramanayake, and N. Burgess. While the two approaches are related, the Bailey ecoregions (nested in four levels) give more importance to ecological criteria and climate zones, while the WWF ecoregions give more importance to biogeography, that is, the distribution of distinct species assemblages. The TEOW framework originally delineated 867 terrestrial ecoregions nested into 14 major biomes, contained with

1296-783: The World, released in 2008, has 426 ecoregions covering virtually the entire non-marine surface of the earth. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) identifies twelve major habitat types of freshwater ecoregions: Large lakes, large river deltas, polar freshwaters, montane freshwaters, temperate coastal rivers, temperate floodplain rivers and wetlands, temperate upland rivers, tropical and subtropical coastal rivers, tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetlands, tropical and subtropical upland rivers, xeric freshwaters and endorheic basins, and oceanic islands. The freshwater major habitat types reflect groupings of ecoregions with similar biological, chemical, and physical characteristics and are roughly equivalent to biomes for terrestrial systems. The Global 200 ,

1344-480: The authors was to support global biodiversity conservation by providing a "fourfold increase in resolution over that of the 198 biotic provinces of Dasmann (1974) and the 193 units of Udvardy (1975)." In 2007, a comparable set of Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) was published, led by M. Spalding, and in 2008 a set of Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (FEOW) was published, led by R. Abell. Bailey's ecoregion concept prioritizes ecological criteria and climate, while

1392-677: The broad latitudinal divisions of polar, temperate, and tropical seas, with subdivisions based on ocean basins (except for the southern hemisphere temperate oceans, which are based on continents). Major marine biogeographic realms, analogous to the eight terrestrial biogeographic realms , represent large regions of the ocean basins: Arctic , Temperate Northern Atlantic , Temperate Northern Pacific , Tropical Atlantic , Western Indo-Pacific , Central Indo-Pacific , Eastern Indo-Pacific , Tropical Eastern Pacific , Temperate South America , Temperate Southern Africa , Temperate Australasia , and Southern Ocean . A similar system of identifying areas of

1440-572: The cultivation of citrus, cotton, rice, and wheat. It is also a source of small-scale fishing for the local population. It divides Mozambique administratively , politically , ethnically and ecologically : The delta of the Save River includes mangrove forests which span approximately 100 km (62 mi) on the Indian Ocean coast. Villagers in the delta basin use the mangrove forests for timber and small-scale fishing. The ecology of

1488-401: The delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Another complication is that environmental conditions across an ecoregion boundary may change very gradually, e.g. the prairie-forest transition in the midwestern United States, making it difficult to identify an exact dividing boundary. Such transition zones are called ecotones . Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or

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1536-405: The early 1970s, the term 'ecoregion' was introduced (short for ecological region), and R.G. Bailey published the first comprehensive map of U.S. ecoregions in 1976. The term was used widely in scholarly literature in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2001 scientists at the U.S. conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF) codified and published the first global-scale map of Terrestrial Ecoregions of

1584-582: The eastward-flowing Rusitu River and the westward flowing Tanganda River, marks the southern end of the Chimanimani Mountains. A hilly upland extends south from the fault into Chipinge District , and the highest point is Mount Selinda at 1230 meters. The Eastern Highlands are part of the East African Highlands , one of four distinct physiographic divisions on the African continent. The East African Highlands physiographic division consists of

1632-500: The fires that occur at the end of the dry season. At lower elevations, Themeda triandra is the predominant grass on the more fertile red soils, and Loudetia simplex is common on less-fertile white sandy soils. At higher elevations are montane grasslands made up mostly of short, tufted grasses, including Loudetia simplex , Trachypogon spicatus , Exotheca abyssinica , and Monocymbium ceresiiforme . Some valleys and east-facing slopes contain areas of subtropical rainforest, with

1680-494: The forest undergrowth in particular shelters a variety of reptiles including skinks , geckos , lizards , frogs , toads , and snakes . Numerous streams have their headwaters in the Eastern Highlands. Over time streams have deeply dissected the highlands, forming deep ravines and gorges. Some eastward-flowing streams form high waterfalls as they descend the escarpment into Mozambique. The highlands' cool, high-altitude, rapidly-flowing streams create aquatic habitats distinct from

1728-585: The highlands. The highlands have a cooler, moister climate than the surrounding lowlands, which support distinct communities of plants and animals. The ecoregion is home to several plant communities: submontane and montane grasslands, moist evergreen forest, dry montane forest, miombo woodlands, and heathlands . The highlands consist of three main mountain groups – the Nyanga, Bvumba, and Chimanimani mountains – and several smaller ranges. The mountains are mostly sparsely populated, covered in rich grasslands, shrublands, woodlands and forests. The Nyanga Mountains in

1776-501: The land surface of the Earth into eight biogeographical realms containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions (see list ). The WWF effort is a synthesis of many previous efforts to define and classify ecoregions. The eight realms follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, that separate the world's major plant and animal communities. Realm boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like

1824-534: The north contain Zimbabwe's highest mountain Mount Nyangani (2,592 m), and Mutarazi Falls , Africa's second-longest waterfall. The Choa Mountains rise northeast of the Nyanga mountains in Mozambique. Zimbabwe's agricultural Honde Valley lies southeast of the Nyanga range, and leads into Mozambique. Mutare is the largest city in the highlands. It is located on the Zimbabwean side of the Mutare Gap,

1872-472: The oceans for conservation purposes is the system of large marine ecosystems (LMEs), developed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A freshwater ecoregion is a large area encompassing one or more freshwater systems that contains a distinct assemblage of natural freshwater communities and species. The freshwater species, dynamics, and environmental conditions within

1920-430: The probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones" ("ecological zones"), although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms . Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic framework

1968-903: The proteaceous heathlands. A number of indigenous monocot lilies with small distribution ranges occur in the highlands. Cryptostephanotis vansonii , Cyrtanthus rhodesianus , and Scadoxus pole-evansi are popular with rare plant collectors. This variety of different types of habitat results in a richness of animal life too. Animals found in the highlands include Sykes' monkey ( Cercopithecus albogularis ), East African little collared fruit bat ( Myonycteris relicta ) and Marshall's pygmy chameleon ( Rhampholeon marshalli ). Many of its animals are found throughout East Africa. The highlands are also rich in birdlife including trumpeter hornbill ( Bycanistes bucinator ), Livingstone's turaco ( Tauraco livingstonii ), purple-crested turaco ( Tauraco porphyreolophus ), crested guineafowl ( Guttera pucherani ) and crowned eagle ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ). Two species,

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2016-415: The quality, health, and integrity of ecosystems ". "Characteristics of geographical phenomena" may include geology , physiography , vegetation, climate, hydrology , terrestrial and aquatic fauna , and soils, and may or may not include the impacts of human activity (e.g. land use patterns, vegetation changes). There is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making

2064-453: The surrounding lowlands, and the highlands are home to several endemic species. Four species of fish – Labeo baldasseronii , Amarginops hildae , Varicorhinus pungweensis , and Parakneria mossambica – are endemic to the highlands. The mountain forests are vulnerable to logging and the grasslands susceptible to fire and the rainforests, which by definition grow on well-watered fertile land, to clearance for agriculture. The moist climate

2112-408: The term is somewhat vague. It has been used in many contexts: forest classifications (Loucks, 1962), biome classifications (Bailey, 1976, 2014), biogeographic classifications ( WWF / Global 200 scheme of Olson & Dinerstein, 1998), etc. The phrase "ecological region" was widely used throughout the 20th century by biologists and zoologists to define specific geographic areas in research. In

2160-454: The terrestrial ecoregions; only the priority conservation areas are listed. See Global 200 Marine ecoregions for a full list of marine ecoregions. In 2007, TNC and WWF refined and expanded this scheme to provide a system of comprehensive near shore (to 200 meters depth) Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW). The 232 individual marine ecoregions are grouped into 62 marine provinces , which in turn group into 12 marine realms , which represent

2208-597: The town of Chipinge and on the western slopes of the Nyanga Highlands. In the Chimanimani Mountains and Mount Gorongosa , heathlands are found on poor, acidic sandy soils derived from quartzite . The heathlands are of two types, ericaceous and proteaceous . The ericaceous heathlands are dominated by Philippia pallidiflora, P. hexandra, Phylica ericoides, Passerina montana, Erica eylesii, E. pleiotricha, E. gazensis, and E. johnstoniana. Protea gazensis, P. welwitschii , and Leucospermum saxosum are common in

2256-913: The trees are predominantly conifers ( gymnosperms ), or whether they are predominantly broadleaf ( Angiosperms ) and mixed (broadleaf and conifer). Biome types like Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ; tundra ; and mangroves host very distinct ecological communities, and are recognized as distinct biome types as well. Marine ecoregions are: "Areas of relatively homogeneous species composition , clearly distinct from adjacent systems….In ecological terms, these are strongly cohesive units, sufficiently large to encompass ecological or life history processes for most sedentary species." They have been defined by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to aid in conservation activities for marine ecosystems . Forty-three priority marine ecoregions were delineated as part of WWF's Global 200 efforts. The scheme used to designate and classify marine ecoregions

2304-491: The world's 8 major biogeographical realms. Subsequent regional papers by the co-authors covering Africa, Indo-Pacific, and Latin America differentiate between ecoregions and bioregions, referring to the latter as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)". The specific goal of

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