The Guinean montane forests are a

tropical moist broadleaf forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discon ...

ecoregion of West Africa. The ecoregion occupies the portions of the

Guinea Highlands The Guinea Highlands is a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast. The highlands include a number of mountains, ranges and plateaus, including the Fouta D ...

lying above 600 meters elevation, extending across portions of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. It includes the

Fouta Djallon Fouta Djallon ( ff, 𞤊𞤵𞥅𞤼𞤢 𞤔𞤢𞤤𞤮𞥅, Fuuta Jaloo; ar, فوتا جالون) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the r ...

plateau and the massifs of Ziama,

Simandou Simandou is a range of hills located in the Nzérékoré and Kankan regions of southeastern Guinea, in the country's mountainous, forested ''Guinée Forestière'' region. At the southern end of the range the site of a large iron ore deposit is ...

, Tétini, Béro, Kourandou in Guinea, the

Loma Mountains The Loma Mountains are the highest mountain range in Sierra Leone. The highest peak is Mount Bintumani which rises to a height of . The area has been designated a non-hunting forest reserve since 1952. The reserve covers an area of 33,201 hectar ...

and

Tingi Hills The Tingi Hills Forest Reserve is located in a mountain range in the east of Sierra Leone and occupies an area of . It became a forest reserve in 1947 and a non-hunting forest reserve in 1973. The area reaches from an altitude of 400 to 1850 met ...

in Sierra Leone, the

Nimba Range The Nimba Range forms part of the southern extent of the Guinea Highlands. The highest peak is Mount Richard-Molard on the border of Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea, at 1,752 m (5,750 ft). "Mount Nimba" may refer either to Mount Richard-Mola ...

in Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire, and the Monts du Toura in Côte d'Ivoire.

Mount Bintumani Mount Bintumani (also known as Loma Mansa) is the highest peak in Sierra Leone and the Loma Mountains, at . It lies in the Loma Mountains and its lower slopes are covered in rainforests, home to a wide variety of animals. These include pygmy hip ...

in the Loma Mountains is the highest peak in West Africa west of Mount Cameroon. The next highest peaks in the region are in the

Sankan Biriwa Sankan Biriwa is a mountain massif in the east of Sierra Leone with two Summit (topography), peaks, both over 1,800 metres, the northernmost is the second highest in Sierra Leone at 1,850 m. The mountain is part of the Tingi Hills Fores ...

massif (1850 meters) in the Tingi Hills. Average rainfall is between 1,600–2400 mm per year and many important rivers have their sources in these mountains.

Flora

These mountains have a distinct plant cover in various phases according to elevation, with up to 35 endemic species including a ''

Rhipidoglossum ''Rhipidoglossum'' is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It contains about 20-30 species, all from sub-Saharan Africa. Species This genus contains the following species: *'' Rhipidoglossum arbonnieri'' - Grows in ...

'' orchid found only on Mount Nimba. Common plant types in the humid mountain valleys include ''

Uapaca ''Uapaca'' is a genus of plant, in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858. It is the only genus comprised in the tribe Uapaceae. The genus is native to Africa and Madagascar. ''Uapaca'' is dioecious, with male and female fl ...

togoensis, Cola lateritia maclaudii, Parinari excelsa, Piptadeniastrum africanum'' and '' Canarium schweinfurthii''. Higher altitudes of the Loma and the Tingi are covered with a savanna of '' Syzygium,

Kotschya ''Kotschya'' is a genus of legumes in the family Fabaceae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade of the Dalbergieae The tribe Dalbergieae is an early-branching clade within the flowering plant subfamily Fab ...

ochreata, Monechma depauperatum'', and the tree ferns,'' Cyathea subg. Cyathea manniana'' and ''

Cyathea dregei ''Alsophila dregei'', synonym ''Cyathea dregei'', (common tree fern or ''gewone boomvaring'' in Afrikaans) is a widespread species of tree fern in southern Africa. Within South Africa, it co-occurs with the indigenous forest tree fern (''A. ca ...

.'' Other areas of high prairie are known for Gladiolus, '' Solenostemon monostachyus latericola, Cyanotis longiflora,'' and '' Thesium tenuissimum''. Finally the high gallery forest is dominated by '' Parinari excelsa'' with the tree fern, '' Cyathea camerooniana'', and the bamboo, ''

Oxytenanthera ''Oxytenanthera'' is a genus of African bamboo. Bamboos are members of the grass family Poaceae. The only recognized species in this genus is ''Oxytenanthera abyssinica''. This species is found widespread across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In tr ...

abyssinica''. '' Pitcairnia feliciana'', the only species of Bromeliad native outside the Americas, is endemic to the Fouta Jallon.

Fauna

Leopards ''(Panthera pardus)'' are the largest predator in the ecoregion. The ecoregion supports populations of the endangered

western chimpanzee The western chimpanzee, or West African chimpanzee, (''Pan troglodytes verus'') is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Guine ...

(''Pan troglodytes verus''). Near-endemic birds include Sierra Leone prinia ('' Prinia leontica'') and the iris glossy-starling ('' Coccycolius iris''). Endemic amphibians include the western Nimba toad ''( Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis)'', found only in the montane grasslands of the Nimba Range, and which is totally viviparous. The Guinea screeching frog ('' Arthroleptis crusculum'') is a threatened species found in the Nimba Range, Mounts Béro, Tétini, and Foko, the Simandou Range (Mts. Tibe and Fon), Loma Mountains, and Tingi Hills in high-altitude grasslands and in gallery forests during the dry season. '' Ptychadena submascareniensis'' is another frog species that has been found only on Mt. Nimba and in the Loma Mountains."Ptychadena submascareniensis". IUCN Red List. Accessed 28 September 2015

/ref>

Threats and preservation

The landscape has been badly affected by mining on Mount Nimba and general clearance for farming as well as more recent civil war in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Despite its park status iron ore mining on Mount Nimba was still ongoing up until the Liberian Civil War, while the Loma Mountains are perhaps the best preserved part of the region.

Protected areas

Protected areas include: * Gueoule and Mont Glo forest reserves, Côte d'Ivoire * Kounounkan Forest Reserve, Guinea *

Non-hunting Forest Reserve, Sierra Leone *

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve is a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in both Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, extending over a total of area of 17,540 hectares, with 12,540 hectares in Guinea, and 5,000 hectares in Côte d'Ivo ...

, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire (with plans to extend into Liberia) * Mont Sângbé National Park, Côte d'Ivoire *

Non-hunting Forest Reserve, Sierra Leone * Ziama Strict Nature Reserve, Guinea

References

{{reflist

External links

Guinean montane forests (WWF)

Guinean montane forests researchgate.org publication
Afrotropical ecoregions Afromontane forests Ecoregions of Guinea Ecoregions of Ivory Coast Ecoregions of Liberia Ecoregions of Sierra Leone Forests of Guinea Rainforests of Africa Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests