Mascarene Tropical Forest Islands bioregion
The bioregion’s land area is provided in units of 1,000 hectares. The conservation target is the combined Global Safety Net (GSN1) areas for the component ecoregions. The protection level indicates the percentage of the GSN goal that is currently protected on a scale of 0-10. N/A means data is not available at this time.
The Mascarene bioregion, part of the Madagascar & Eastern Afrotropics subrealm located in the Afrotropics realm, is an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar, which includes Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues, plus a variety of reefs, atolls, and small islands. Due to its unique soil and climate, it has an incredibly diverse flora with over 1000 native species, hundreds of which are endemic. The bioregion is dominated by one ecoregion–Mascarene Forests (20)–which includes a diverse range of rainforests, cloud forests, swamp forests, and lowland dry forests. Mauritius was the former habitat of the now-extinct dodo bird and many other exotic birds. The islands are surrounded by approximately 750 square km of coral reefs. The total area of the islands is approximately 500,000 hectares, not including reefs and adjacent marine areas.
The Mascarene Tropical Forest Islands bioregion is part of the Madagascar & Eastern Afrotropics subrealm and is made up of one ecoregion: Mascarene Forests [1].
Learn more about the Mascarene Tropical Forest Islands ecoregion below.
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