The Western Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is an

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 ...

of Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.

Geography

The forest–savanna mosaic covers a region of dissected plateaus lying between the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

on the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The lower

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

passes through the ecoregion.Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D'Amico Hales, Emma Underwood, et al. (2004). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment''. World Wildlife Fund. Island Press, 2004, pp. 294-296. The ecoregion is bounded on the northwest by the humid

Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests The Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests, also known as the Congolian coastal forests, are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Central Africa, covering hills, plains, and mountains of the Atlantic coast of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ga ...

, which extend north from the Congo River along the Atlantic coast. The

Northwestern Congolian lowland forests The Northwestern Congolian lowland forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion that spans Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and a minuscule part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It forms part o ...

lie to the north and northeast. The

Southern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic The southern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is an ecoregion that covers a large area of the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northeastern Angola. Its rich blend of habitats provides key insights into the biogeography of central Afri ...

bounds the ecoregion on the east, south of the Congo River. The

Angolan miombo woodlands Angolan miombo woodlands cover most of central Angola and extend into the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are part of the larger miombo ecosystem that covers much of eastern and southern Africa. Location and description This area of savanna an ...

lie to the southeast and south. The

Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands The Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands is an ecoregion located on the coast of Angola, an area with a variety of habitats and rich in wildlife including many endemic birds and animals. Geography This ecoregion consists of the strip of land that ...

lies to the southwest along the Atlantic coast, extending south from the Congo River's mouth. The cities of

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

and

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

, capitals of the two Congo republics, are in the ecoregion, located opposite one another on the Congo River. Other cities in the ecoregion include

Matadi Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Kongo Central province, adjacent to the border with Angola. It had a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River, ...

and Cabinda.

Climate

The climate is tropical, with little seasonal variation. Mean maximum temperatures range from 30 °C in the lowlands to 21 °C on the high plateaus, and mean minimum temperatures range from 21º to 15 °C. Rainfall averages 1200 mm per year, increasing to 1400 mm at the transition to the coastal and Congolian rainforests.

Flora

The ecoregion is a mosaic of wooded grassland with patches of forest. It includes areas of dry evergreen forest on the

Bateke Plateau The Teke people or Bateke, also known as the Tyo or Tio, are a Bantu Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages and that mainly inhabit the south, north, and center of the Republic of the Congo, the west of the Democratic Republ ...

in the Republic of the Congo, and gallery forests along rivers, particularly the Congo. The

species composition Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

of the gallery forest is similar to the Congolian forests to the east. Mabwati is a dense dry forest community which grows on deposits of Kalahari sand in the eastern portion of the ecoregion, and extend into the adjacent Southern Congolian forest–savanna. The trees ''

Marquesia macroura ''Marquesia'' is a genus of plant in family Dipterocarpaceae. It is native to Africa and can be found in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Zaïre and Zimbabwe. It contains the following species: * ''Marquesia acuminata'' * '' ...

Marquesia acuminata ''Marquesia'' is a genus of plant in family Dipterocarpaceae. It is native to Africa and can be found in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Zaïre and Zimbabwe. It contains the following species: * '' Marquesia acuminata'' * '' ...

Daniellia alsteeniana ''Daniellia'' is a genus of plants in the family Fabaceae, named after William Freeman Daniell William Freeman Daniell (1818–1865) was a British army surgeon and botanist. From 1847 to 1856 he was stationed in Gambia, the Gold Coast (modern ...

'', and ''

Berlinia giorgii ''Berlinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes 21 species of trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Guinea to Chad, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Angola. Species of ''Berlina'' grow in the Guineo–Congol ...

'' are characteristic of mabwati's dense canopy.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to several large mammal species. African buffalo (''Syncerus caffer''),

waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...

(''Kobus ellipsiprymnus''),

bushbuck The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus'') is a common and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009)Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19. Bushbuck are found in a wide ra ...

(''Tragelaphus scriptus''),

southern reedbuck The southern reedbuck, rietbok or common reedbuck (''Redunca arundinum'') is a diurnal antelope typically found in southern Africa. It was first described by Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genus ...

(''Redunca arundinum''),

yellow-backed duiker The yellow-backed duiker (''Cephalophus silvicultor'') is a forest dwelling antelope in the order Artiodactyla from the family Bovidae. Yellow-backed duikers are the most widely distributed of all duikers. They are found mainly in Central and West ...

(''Cephalophus silvicultor'') and

common duiker The common duiker (''Sylvicapra grimmia''), also known as the grey or bush duiker, is a small antelope and the only member of the genus ''Sylvicapra''. This species is found everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara, excluding the Horn of Africa ...

(''Sylvicapra grimmia'') are widespread.

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

s (''Panthera leo'') are the top predator. The

African forest elephant The African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') is one of the two living African elephant species. It is native to humid forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a should ...

(''Loxodonta cylcotis'') was once widespread but is now threatened and limited in range. The critically endangered

western lowland gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in montane, primary and secondary forest and lowland swampland in central Afri ...

(''Gorilla gorilla gorilla''), and

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

central chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes troglodytes'') are found north of the Congo River. Adam's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus adami'') and the velvet climbing mouse (''Dendroprionomys rousseloti'') are endemic to the ecoregion. The forest horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus silvestris'') is a limited-range species, that lives in the forest-savanna and the rainforests north of the Congo River. There are two endemic bird species, the

white-headed robin-chat The white-headed robin-chat (''Cossypha heinrichi'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in northern Angola and the western Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is threatened by habitat loss, and its IUCN conservation sta ...

(''Cossypha heinrichi'') and orange-breasted bush shrike (''Laniarius brauni''). The western Congo worm lizard (''Monopeltis guentheri'') and Cambondo screeching frog (''Arthroleptis carquejai'') are endemic to the ecoregion.

Protected areas

6.42% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Protected areas in the ecoregion include

Cangandala National Park Cangandala National Park is a national park in Malanje Province, Angola. It is situated between the Cuije river and 2 unnamed territories of the Cuanza, with the towns of Culamagia and Techongolola on the edges of the park. It is the smallest ...

Mayumba National Park Mayumba National Park is a national park in southwestern Gabon. It is a thin tongue of beach, dunes, savanna, and rain-forest in the extreme south of the country, between Mayumba and the Congo border. Mayumba National Park shelters 60 km o ...

Lopé National Park Lopé National Park is a national park in central Gabon. Bordered by the Ogooué River to the north and the Chaillu Massif to the south, the park takes up roughly 4912 square kilometers. Although the terrain is mostly monsoon forest, in the nor ...

Moukalaba-Doudou National Park Moukalaba-Doudou National Park is a national park in Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered ...

Batéké Plateau National Park Batéké Plateau National Park is a national park on the Bateke Plateau, southeastern Gabon covering . Due to its purported universal cultural and natural significance, it was added onto the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 20, 2 ...

, Conkouati-Douli National Park, Mangroves Marine Park, Ogooué-Lékéti National Park,

Luki Biosphere Reserve Luki may refer to: * Lüki (''Iteu''), community of Abram in Romania * Pierre Louki, a French actor and singer/songwriter. * Velikiye Luki, a city in the southern part of Pskov Oblast, Russia. * FC Luki-SKIF Velikiye Luki, a Russian football te ...

, Bombo-Lumene Hunting Area, Léfini Wildlife Reserve,

N'Sele Nature Reserve Nsele or N'Sele is a municipality (''commune'') in the Tshangu district of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is situated in the east of Kinshasa, on the Pool Malebo The Pool Malebo, formerly Stanley Pool, ...

, Tsoulou Wildlife Reserve, Ngyanga Nord Wildlife Reserve, Mont Fouari Wildlife Reserve, Tchimpounga Wildlife Sanctuary, and Lessio-Louna Wildlife Sanctuary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Congolian forest-savanna mosaic Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Angola Ecoregions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ecoregions of the Republic of the Congo Ecoregions of Gabon Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands