The Guinean montane forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

lying above 600 meters elevation, extending across portions of

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. It includes the

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

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 i ...

, Tétini, Béro, Kourandou in Guinea, the

Loma Mountains The Loma Mountains are the highest mountain range 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 surround ...

and Tingi Hills 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 The Monts du Toura, also known as the Toura Mountains, are a range of mountains rising to 1300 metres in elevation, extending westward across Côte d’Ivoire from the Sassandra River to the border with Liberia and Guinea. Mont Nimba, at the weste ...

in Côte d'Ivoire. Mount Bintumani in the Loma Mountains is the highest peak in West Africa west of

Mount Cameroon Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its indigenous n ...

. The next highest peaks in the region are in the Sankan Biriwa 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'' 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 f ...

togoensis, Cola lateritia maclaudii,

Parinari excelsa ''Parinari excelsa'', the Guinea plum, is a species of large, evergreen tree in the family Chrysobalanaceae. It has a very wide distribution in tropical Africa and South America. This species grows to tall while the trunk is up to in diameter. ...

Piptadeniastrum ''Piptadeniastrum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the mimosoid clade in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae ...

africanum'' and ''

Canarium schweinfurthii ''Canarium schweinfurthii'' (commonly known as the bush candle, African olive, African elemi, or canarium), is a species of large tree native to tropical Africa.ICRAF Names in many African languages are variations of ''mupafu''. Description Bec ...

''. Higher altitudes of the Loma and the Tingi are covered with a savanna of ''

Syzygium ''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...

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 ...

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. c ...

.'' Other areas of high prairie are known for

Gladiolus ''Gladiolus'' (from Latin, the diminutive of ''gladius'', a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural ''g ...

, ''

Solenostemon ''Solenostemon'' is a former genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. It has been included in the genus '' Plectranthus'', but is now included in an expanded ''Coleus''. They are native to tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. Some sp ...

monostachyus latericola, Cyanotis longiflora,'' and ''

Thesium ''Thesium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Santalaceae. It is particularly well represented in South Africa. The following species are recognised by ''The Plant List'': *'' Thesium acuminatum'' A.W. Hill *'' Thesium acutissimum'' ...

tenuissimum''. Finally the high gallery forest is dominated by ''

'' with the tree fern, '' Cyathea camerooniana'', and the bamboo, '' Oxytenanthera abyssinica''. ''

Pitcairnia feliciana ''Pitcairnia feliciana'' is a plant endemic to central Guinea in West Africa and is the only species of bromeliad not native to the Americas. It can be found growing on sandstone outcrops (inselbergs) of the Fouta Djallon highlands in Middle Gui ...

'', 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, Guinea ...

(''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 Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the m ...

. 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'Ivoi ...

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

Mont Sângbé National Park Mont Sângbé National Park (also spelled Mount Sangbé National Park, Sangbe Mountain National Park) is a national park in Ivory Coast. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' lists it among the "principal national parks of the world". It acquired natio ...

, Côte d'Ivoire * Tingi Hills Non-hunting Forest Reserve, Sierra Leone *

Ziama Strict Nature Reserve The Ziama Massif is a forested mountain range in Nzérékoré Region of southeastern Guinea. Geography The Ziama Massif extends northeast-southwest, continuing south into Liberia as the Kpo Range. The eastern slopes are drained by the St. Paul ...

, 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