Preliminary Studies On Zonation Of Strand Vegetation At Mombasa, Kenya, And A Comparison Of The Strand Vegetation Of West And East African Coasts

Abstract

A preliminary study has been made of the species composition and zonation pattern of strand vegetation on the Indian Ocean Coast at Mombasa, Kenya, in East Africa and the results have been compared with those on the Guinea Coast of the Atlantic ocean at Elmina, Ghana, in West Africa. The comparison showed a much lower species diversity in Mombasa. but the zonation pattern was similar to that established for Ghana. The species involved were, however, largely different. A Review of the literature so far available on the strand of the coasts of east and West Africa also confirms the much higher species diversity on West than on East African strand. This, however, was found to be so in the Pioneer and Main Strand Zones, but is reversed in the first Littoral Land Zone. Only a few species or genera were found to be common to the strand vegetation of the two coasts. Though the strand vegetation on the coasts of these two regions of Africa exhibit a similar zonation pattern, they differ markedly in the species present in a species diversity.