List of ecoregions in South Africa

The following is a list of ecoregions in South Africa, as identified by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Terrestrial ecoregions

by major habitat type

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

• Knysna-Amatole montane forests
• KwaZulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic
• Maputaland coastal forest mosaic
• Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

• Kalahari Acacia-Baikiaea woodlands
• Southern Africa bushveld
• Zambezian and Mopane woodlands

Montane grasslands and shrublands

• Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands
• Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests
• Highveld grasslands
• Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

• Albany thickets
• Lowland fynbos and renosterveld
• Montane fynbos and renosterveld

Deserts and xeric shrublands

• Kalahari xeric savanna
• Nama Karoo
• Succulent Karoo

Tundra

• Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra

Mangroves

• Southern Africa mangroves

Freshwater ecoregions

by bioregion

Zambezi

• Kalahari
• Zambezian Lowveld

Southern Temperate

• Amatole-Winterberg Highlands
• Cape Fold
• Drakensberg-Maloti Highlands
• Karoo
• Southern Kalahari
• Southern Temperate Highveld
• Western Orange

Marine ecoregions

• Namaqua
• Agulhas Bank
• Natal
• Prince Edward Islands

References

• Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D’Amico Hales, Emma Underwood (2004). Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington DC.
• Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583.
• Thieme, Michelle L. (2005). Freshwater Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington DC.