The Western Guinean lowland forests
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 ...
(WWF #AT0130) is 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 (ecology), habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Description
TSMF is generally foun ...
ecoregion of
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
. It is centered on Liberia, with portions in surrounding countries. It is the westernmost tropical rainforest in Africa, and has high levels of species endemism, with over 200 species of endemic plants.
Geography
The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
a few hundred kilometres inland, and from western
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
across
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
, southeastern
Guinea
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 ...
, most of
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
, and into southwest Guinea.
The terrain is relatively flat, with a mean elevation of 2,225 meters and a few isolated mountains that reach a high point of .
Major rivers include the
Sewa River
Sewa River is a river in Sierra Leone. Its furthest sources are the Bagbe River and Bafi River, which originates in the mountainous areas of the northeastern part of the country, near the border with Guinea. From the confluence of Bagbe and Bafi in ...
,
Mano River
The Mano River is a river in West Africa. It originates in the Guinea Highlands in Liberia and forms part of the Liberia-Sierra Leone Liberia–Sierra Leone border, border.
The districts through which the river flows include the Parrot's Beak ...
,
Saint Paul River
The Saint Paul River is a river of western Africa. Its headwaters are in southeastern Guinea. Its upper portion in Guinea is known as the Diani River or Niandi River, and forms part of the boundary between Guinea and Liberia. It is known local ...
,
Cavalla River
The Cavalla River (also known as the Cavally, the Youbou and the Diougou) is a river in West Africa running from north of Mont Nimba in Guinea, through Côte d'Ivoire, to Zwedru in Liberia, and back to the border with Côte d'Ivoire. It ends in t ...
and
Sassandra River
The Sassandra River is a river of western Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Tienba River, which originates in the highlands of northwestern Côte d'Ivoire, and the Gouan River (also known as the Bafing Sud Rive ...
. The soils are poor, heavily leached
lateritic
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
.
The
Sassandra River
The Sassandra River is a river of western Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Tienba River, which originates in the highlands of northwestern Côte d'Ivoire, and the Gouan River (also known as the Bafing Sud Rive ...
of Côte d'Ivoire separates the Western Guinean forests from the
Eastern Guinean forests
The Eastern Guinean forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa.
Geography
The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Gulf of Guinea a few hundred kilometres inland, from western Côte d'Ivoire to ...
which lie to the east. Inland and to the west, the Western Guinean forests transition to 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 ...
, and to the
Guinean montane forests
The Guinean montane forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa.
The ecoregion occupies the portions of the Guinea Highlands lying above 600 meters elevation, extending across portions of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia ...
at higher elevations.
The Western Guinean forests, together with the other tropical moist forests of West Africa, is included within
Conservation International
Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.
CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The organ ...
's
Guinean Forests of West Africa
The Guinean forests of West Africa is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International, which includes the belt of tropical moist broadleaf forests along the coast of West Africa, running from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west to ...
biodiversity hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the co ...
.
Climate
The climate of the ecoregion is ''
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)). Temperatures can average from 30 to 33 degrees (C) in the hot months, 12 to 12 (C) in the colder months. The rainy season is May to October, with precipitation reaching 3,300 mm/year or more in the higher regions.
Flora and fauna
Closed forest covers two thirds of the ecoregion, mostly broadleaf evergreen trees, but much of this is second-growth or otherwise disturbed by human activities. Another 22% of the terrain is open forest or shrub.
The term ‘farmbush’ has been applied to the degraded secondary growth that follows slash-and-burn agriculture.
Common trees include
Dacroydes klaineana,
Strombosia glaucescens,
Allanblackia floribunda
''Allanblackia floribunda'', known in English as 'tallow tree', is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae that has been long used in traditional African medicine to treat hypertension. It is a common understory tree in rainforests i ...
,
Coula edulis
''Coula edulis'' is a tree in the genus ''Coula'', native to tropical western Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola. It is plentiful in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. It prefers tropical regions and is tolerant of light ...
and
Diospyros sanza-minika.
Semi-deciduous forests occur at lower altitudes into Guinea.
Because the wet areas expanded and contracted during the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, 'islands' of specialized species developed. Some of these areas of diversified floral and faunal communities are in protected areas.
Protected areas
A 2017 assessment found that 24,028 km², or 12%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Only 2% of the unprotected area is covered by relatively-intact forest.
[Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b]
/ref> Protected areas include:
* Taï National Park
Taï National Park () is a national park in Côte d'Ivoire that contains one of the last areas of primary rainforest in West Africa. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its flora and fauna. Five mammal sp ...
in Ivory Coast,
* Lofa-Mano National Park
The Lofa-Mano National Park is a proposed national park in Liberia. It was proposed in 1979. This site is . The park was proposed to protect an area of unexploited forest in the north-west of the country, bordering Sierra Leone, an area described ...
, in Liberia,
* Sapo National Park
Sapo National Park is a national park in Sinoe County, Liberia. It is the country's largest protected area of rainforest,
was the first national park established in the country,
and contains the second-largest area of primary tropical rainfor ...
in Liberia,
* Diecké Forest Reserve in Guinea, and
* Kangari Hills Forest Reserve, in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
.
See also
* 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 ...
External links
Guinean Forests of West Africa (Conservation International)
Map of the Guinean Forests of West Africa (Conservation International)
(PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
file)
References
{{reflist
Afrotropical ecoregions
Ecoregions of Ivory Coast
Ecoregions of Guinea
Ecoregions of Liberia
Ecoregions of Sierra Leone
Forests of Ivory Coast
Forests of Guinea
Forests of Liberia
Forests of Sierra Leone
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests