Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Afrotropical |
Biome | montane grasslands and shrublands |
Borders | Angolan miombo woodlands, Angolan montane forest–grassland mosaic, Central African mangroves and Western Congolian forest–savanna mosaic |
Geography | |
Area | 74,300 km2 (28,700 sq mi) |
Countries | Angola |
Conservation | |
Conservation status | Vulnerable |
Protected | 11.61% [1] |
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.
This ecoregion consists of the strip of land that runs along the coast of Angola and the steep west-facing ridge that rises from the Atlantic coast to Angola's large central plateau, to a height of about 1000m. [2]
The ecoregion contains Angola's capital Luanda, a city that has grown to more than 3.5 million people.
This coast has a tropical climate with summer rains and high humidity all year round.
The area contains a mixture of types of habitat: rain forest, cloud forest, grassland, mangroves, and swamp.
This diverse ecoregion can be divided into three different areas according to their type of habitat. North of the Cuanza River is a forest of tall trees surrounded by tall grasses, with areas of mangrove and swamp on riverbanks especially in the river estuaries. At higher altitudes on the western ridge patches of cloud forest, which shelter a rich variety of endemic plants and animals. Finally, on the coastal strip and the low slopes of the escarpment south of the Cuanza there are dry woodlands and wooded grasslands. (See Central African mangroves for a description of the coastal swamps). [2]
The forests have been home to a variety of mammals including the African forest elephant, lion and cheetah, but uncontrolled hunting may have completely removed these. Remaining mammals include the yellow-backed duiker (Cephalophus sylvicultor), black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus nigrifrons), blue duiker (Cephalophus monticola), and smaller species such as the tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), Beecroft's flying squirrel and forest giant squirrel. In the dry season animals migrate to the moister areas uphill. Larger mammals, which are found especially in the drier grasslands rather than the forests on the ridge, include roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus), African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), southern reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) and eland (Taurotragus oryx). [2]
Bird species endemic to this coast include the grey-striped spurfowl (Pternistis griseostriatus), red-crested turaco (Tauraco erythrolophus), Gabela helmet-shrike (Prionops gabela), white-fronted wattle-eye (Platysteira albifrons), Angola slaty flycatcher (Dioptrornis brunneus), Gabela akalat (Sheppardia gabela), Angola cave-chat (Xenocopsychus ansorgei), Pulitzer's longbill (Macrosphenus pulitzeri), golden-backed bishop (Euplectes aureus), orange-breasted bush-shrike (Laniarius brauni), Gabela bush-shrike (Laniarius amboimensis), and (found here and in Cameroon) Monteiro's bush-shrike (Malaconotus monteiri). Birds with endemic sub-species include brown-chested alethe (Alethe poliocephala hallae), yellow-necked greenbul (Chlorocichla falkensteini falkensteini), and grey-backed camaroptera (Camaroptera brevicaudata harteri). [2]
The coastal strip is home to two endemic reptiles; a gecko ( Hemidactylus bayonii ) and a worm lizard Monopeltis luandae , and four endemic frogs; Hyperolius punctulatus , Congulu forest treefrog ( Leptopelis jordani), Quissange forest treefrog (Leptopelis marginatus), and Congolo frog (Amnirana parkeriana). [2]
This is a populous part of Angola and farming, logging and uncontrolled hunting are all affecting the forest habitats and the large mammals in particular are now rare. Until the 1970s the cloud forest area on the escarpment was used for planting coffee, which meant clearing the undergrowth, but coffee growing ceased during the Angolan Civil War and the undergrowth has renewed itself. The dry area to the south of the region has not been settled and much grassland remains. Some larger mammals have been protected in Quiçama National Park (Kissama), which is on the coast near the Cuanza River, but in general this area has been badly affected by the civil war and is poorly studied or protected.
11.61% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. The protected areas are Quiçãma National Park, Ilheu dos Passaros Integral Nature Reserve, and Buffalo Partial Reserve. [1]
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". For example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.
The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopian Zone or Ethiopian Region.
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 inland from the Atlantic coast. A few enclaves of montane forest lie further inland in the mountains of central Guinea and central Togo and Benin.
The Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is a forest and savanna ecoregion of central Africa. It extends east and west across central Africa, covering parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda. It is part of the belt of transitional forest-savanna mosaic that lie between Africa's moist equatorial Guineo-Congolian forests and the tropical dry forests, savannas, and grasslands to the north and south.
The Cameroonian Highlands forests, also known as the Cameroon Highlands forests, are a montane tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion located on the range of mountains that runs inland from the Gulf of Guinea and forms the border between Cameroon and Nigeria. This is an area of forest and grassland which has become more populous as land is cleared for agriculture.
The wildlife of Angola is composed of its flora and fauna.
The wildlife of Cameroon is composed of its flora and fauna. Bordering Nigeria, it is considered one of the wettest parts of Africa and records Africa's second highest concentration of biodiversity. To preserve its wildlife, Cameroon has more than 20 protected reserves comprising national parks, zoos, forest reserves and sanctuaries. The protected areas were first created in the northern region under the colonial administration in 1932; the first two reserves established were Mozogo Gokoro Reserve and the Bénoué Reserve, which was followed by the Waza Reserve on 24 March 1934. The coverage of reserves was initially about 4 percent of the country's area, rising to 12 percent; the administration proposes to cover 30 percent of the land area.
The wildlife of Ivory Coast consists of the flora and fauna of this nation in West Africa. The country has a long Atlantic coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and a range of habitat types. Once covered in tropical rainforest, much of this habitat has been cleared, the remaining terrain being gallery forests and savanna with scattered groups of trees, resulting in a decrease in biodiversity. As of 2016, 252 species of mammal had been recorded in Ivory Coast, 666 species of bird, 153 species of reptile, 80 species of amphibian, 671 species of fish and 3660 species of vascular plant.
The wildlife of Guinea is very diverse due to the wide variety of different habitats. The southern part of the country lies within Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot, while the north-east is characterized by dry savanna woodlands. Ecoregions of Guinea are Western Guinean lowland forest, Guinean montane forest, Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, West Sudanian Savanna, and Guinean mangroves.
The wildlife of Togo is composed of the flora and fauna of Togo, a country in West Africa. Despite its small size the country has a diversity of habitats; there are only remnants of the once more extensive rain forests in the south, there is Sudanian Savanna in the north-western part of the country and larger areas of Guinean forest-savanna mosaic in the centre and northeast. The climate is tropical with distinct wet and dry seasons. There are estimated to be over 3000 species of vascular plant in the country, and 196 species of mammal and 676 species of bird have been recorded there.
Gabela is a town, with a population of 116,903 (2014), and a commune, named Gabela Sede, in the municipality of Amboim, province of Cuanza Sul, Angola and the seat of that municipality. The area of the commune comprises 459 km2 with a population of 184,723. It was founded as N'Guebela on September 28, 1907.
Mont Sângbé National Park is a national park in Ivory Coast. The Encyclopædia Britannica lists it among the "principal national parks of the world". It acquired national park status in 1976.
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.
The Zambezian dry evergreen forest, also known as the Zambezian Cryptosepalum dry forest, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of Southern Africa. It consists of several areas of thick forest in western Zambia and adjacent Angola. It is one of the largest areas of tropical evergreen forest outside the equatorial zone.
The Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion is located on the east-facing inland side of the belt of mountains that stands parallel to the coast of Angola, 50–100 km inland.
The Mbam Djerem National Park is found in Cameroon. It was established in 2000 and covers 4234.78 km2.
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The Western Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is an ecoregion of Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.