The Nigerian lowland forests is a

tropical moist 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 An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

in southwestern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and southeastern

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

. The ecoregion is densely populated, and home to several large cities including

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

, and

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...

. There is still significant tree cover, but the remaining enclaves of forest are increasingly fragmented. The ecoregion is wetter along the coast and drier inland, resulting in bands of vegetation zones that run parallel to the coast for the 400 km length of the region.

Geography

The Nigerian lowland forests are bounded on the south by coastal

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

and the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

, on the east by the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

and its

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

, on the north by the

Guinean forest-savanna mosaic Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

. On the west it is bounded by the

Dahomey Gap In West Africa, the Dahomey Gap refers to the portion of the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic that extends all the way to the coast in Benin, Togo, and Ghana, thus separating the forest zone that covers much of the south of the region into two separat ...

, a drier coastal region where forest-savanna mosaic extends all the way to the ocean, separating the

Lower Guinean forests The Lower Guinean forests is region of coastal tropical moist broadleaf forest in West Africa, extending along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea from eastern Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon. The Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna and dry for ...

, of which the Nigerian lowland forests are part, from the

Upper Guinean forests The Upper Guinean forests is a tropical seasonal forest region of West Africa. The Upper Guinean forests extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to Togo in the east, and a few hundred kilometers inl ...

of West Africa."Nigerian lowland forests". WWF ecoregion profile. Accessed 18 April 2020

/ref>

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is '' Tropical savanna climate, Tropical savanna climate - dry winter'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(Aw)). This climate is characterized by relatively even temperatures throughout the year, and a pronounced dry season. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation, and is drier than the average month.

Flora and fauna

About 48% of the territory is closed forest, mostly broadleaf evergreen trees. Another 36% is open forest, 5% is urban and built up, and the remainder is wetland and herbaceous cover. Because rainfall declines with distance from the sea, the ecoregion exhibits climate bands with vegetation zones that parallel the coast. Closest to the sea is the rain forest zone, then the mixed deciduous forest zone and farthest inland the parkland zone. In the rainforest zone the common trees are of the

Leguminosae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

family (''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

''), ''

Cylicodiscus gabunensis ''Cylicodiscus'' is a genus of flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, ves ...

'', ''

Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum ''Prioria balsamifera'', the agba or tola, is a tall forest tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforest in west Africa, from Nigeria southwards to the Congo basin in Angola, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democr ...

'', ''

Piptadeniastrum africanum ''Piptadeniastrum africanum'' is a tall deciduous tree within the Fabaceae family (subfamily Mimosaidae), also called ''Piptadenia africana'' its timber is traded under the names, Dabema or Dahoma. It commonly occurs in freshwater swamp forests b ...

'', and by the ''

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

'' family (''

Entandrophragma ''Entandrophragma'' is a genus of eleven known species of deciduous trees in the family Meliaceae. Description ''Entandrophragma'' is restricted to tropical Africa.Entandrophragma C. DC. in Bull. Herb. Boissier 2:582 t.21 (1894) At least some ...

'', ''

Guarea ''Guarea'' is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs in the family Meliaceae, native to tropical Africa and Central and South America. At their largest, they are large trees 20–45 m tall, with a trunk over 1 m diameter, often buttressed at the ba ...

'', ''

Khaya ivorensis ''Khaya ivorensis'', also called African mahogany or Lagos mahogany, is a tall forest tree with a buttressed trunk in the family Meliaceae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria where it grows primar ...

'', and '' Lovoa trichilioides''. While in general the levels of animal endemism is low in the ecoregion, there are some notable endemic species. The endangered white-throated guenon ('' Cercopithecus erythrogaster'') is only found in this ecoregion. The endangered Ibadan malimbe ('' Malimbus ibadanensis'') is found in the northern parkland zone. A recent survey of the Niger Delta recorded the endangered crested genet (''

Genetta cristata The crested servaline genet (''Genetta cristata''), also known as the crested genet, is a Genetta, genet species endemic to Nigeria and Cameroon. As the population has declined due to loss of habitat, it is listed as vulnerable species, Vulnerabl ...

''). The Nigeria crag gecko ('' Cnemaspis petrodroma'') and the Perret's toad ('' Bufo perreti'') have also been recorded in the region.

Protected areas

Nominally, about 17% of the ecoregion is under some form of official protection, including: * Akure Ofosu Forest Reserve * Gilli-Gilli Game Reserve * Ifon Game Reserve * Kwale Game Reserve *

Okomu National Park The Okomu National Park, formerly the Okomu Wildlife Sanctuary, is a forest block within the Okomu Forest Reserve in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State in Nigeria. The park is about north west of Benin City. The park hol ...

Omo Forest Reserve Omo Forest Reserve is a preserved area of tropical rainforest in the Nigerian state of Ogun, in the south-west part of the country. It is located about northeast of Lagos and east of Ijebu Ode. This nature reserve covers an area of . The averag ...

* Orle River Game Reserve * Owo Forest Reserve

References

{{reflist Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Nigeria Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests