Eastern Guinean forests | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Afrotropical |
Biome | tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
Borders | Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, Guinean mangroves, West Sudanian savanna, and Western Guinean lowland forests |
Geography | |
Area | 187,874 km2 (72,539 sq mi) |
Countries | Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin |
Conservation | |
Conservation status | Critical/endangered |
Global 200 | Guinean moist forests |
Protected | 42,299 km² (23%) [1] |
The Eastern Guinean forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa. [2] [3]
The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Gulf of Guinea a few hundred kilometres inland, from western Côte d'Ivoire to the western shore of Lake Volta in Ghana. A few enclaves lie further east and inland in the Togo Mountains of Togo, eastern Ghana, and Benin. The Sassandra River of Cote d'Ivoire separates the Eastern Guinean forests from the Western Guinean forests which lie to the west. Inland and to the east, the Eastern Guinean forests transition to the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic. [4]
Cities in the ecoregion include Abidjan and Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast and Kumasi in Ghana.
The Eastern Guinean forests, together with the other tropical moist broadleaf forests of West Africa, is included within Conservation International's Guinean Forests of West Africa biodiversity hotspot.
The climate is tropical, with distinct wet and dry seasons. Average annual rainfall ranges from 2500 mm in the west, declining as one moves inland to 1500 mm along the northern edge and in the mountains of Togo and Benin. [4]
Tropical moist forest is the predominant vegetation type. Moist evergreen forest is found in the west and along the coast, transitioning to moist semi-evergreen forest further inland, and dry semi-evergreen forest in the north.
Characteristic trees of the moist evergreen forest are Entandrophragma utile, Khaya ivorensis , and Triplochiton scleroxylon . Dominant trees in the moist semi-evergreen forests are Celtis spp., Mansonia altissima, Pterygota macrocarpa, Nesogordonia papaverifera, Sterculia rhinopetala , and Milicia excelsa . Trees of the Togo Mountains forests include Milicia excelsa, Triplochiton scleroxylon, Antiaris toxicaria africana, Diospyros mespiliformis, Afzelia africana , and Ceiba pentandra . [4]
Four mammals are endemic to the ecoregion – Wimmer's shrew (Crocidura wimmeri), Ivory Coast rat (Dephomys eburneae), Cansdale's swamp rat (Malacomys cansdalei), and Togo mouse (Leimacomys buettneri). [4]
A 2017 assessment found that 42,299 km², or 23%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. About one-third of the unprotected area is still forested. [1] Protected areas include Gaoulou Natural Park and the southern and western portions of Marahoue National Park in Ivory Coast, and Bia National Park, Kakum National Park, Nini-Suhien National Park, Agmatsa Wildlife Reserve, Boin Tano Forest Reserve, and Mamiri Forest Reserve in Ghana.
Ivory Coast is a sub-Saharan nation in southern West Africa located at 8 00°N, 5 00°W. The country is approximately square in shape. Its southern border is a 515 km (320 mi) coastline on the Gulf of Guinea on the north Atlantic Ocean. On the other three sides it borders five other African nations for a total of 3,458 km (2,149 mi): Liberia to the southwest for 778 km (483 mi), Guinea to the northwest for 816 km (507 mi), Mali to the north-northwest for 599 km (372 mi), Burkina Faso to the north-northeast for 545 km (339 mi), and Ghana to the east for 720 km (447 mi).
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by 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". So, 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.
In West Africa, the forest zone refers to the southern part of the region once covered by tropical rainforest. Sometimes this region is referred to as Guinea to distinguish it from the grassland-covered Sudan, drier Sahel and per-arid Sahara. it's is made-up of vegetation having mainly trees and consist of the following local biotic communities: -mangrove swamp forest -tropical rain forest.
The Kwazulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of South Africa. It covers an area of 17,800 square kilometers (6,900 sq mi) in South Africa's Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
The Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa. 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.
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 the Sanaga River of Cameroon in the east. The Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna and dry forest in Togo and Benin, divides the Guinean forests into the Upper Guinean forests and Lower 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 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 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 Guinean forest-savanna mosaic is an ecoregion of West Africa, a band of interlaced forest, savanna, and grassland running east to west and dividing the tropical moist forests near the coast from the West Sudanian savanna of the interior.
Forest–savanna mosaic is a transitory ecotone between the tropical moist broadleaf forests of Equatorial Africa and the drier savannas and open woodlands to the north and south of the forest belt. The forest–savanna mosaic consists of drier forests, often gallery forest, interspersed with savannas and open grasslands.
Papilio antimachus, the African giant swallowtail, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae. With a wingspan between 18 and 23 centimetres, it is the largest butterfly in Africa and among the largest butterflies in the world. The wings are long and narrow and the ground colour is orange brown with black markings. P. antimachus live in the tropical rainforests of west and central Africa. The distribution area (range) stretches from Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. It is much rarer in the west of its range than in the eastern parts of its range. It probably stays in forest canopy but males come down to mud-puddle. The male is larger than the female and can be seen in groups at nectar. The females show themselves less, continually flying high above the tree tops. It has been seen hill-topping in Liberia. The butterfly may have no natural enemies because it is very toxic.The larval foodplant is unknown and nothing is published on the early stages .Cardiac glycosides found in the larva indicate that the larval foodplant is an asclepiad vine.
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 brown-cheeked hornbill is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, plantations, and secondary growth forests. It is threatened by habitat destruction, as timber is harvested and the forests become increasingly fragmented.
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.
Milicia excelsa is a tree species from the genus Milicia of the family Moraceae. It is one of two species yielding timber commonly known as African teak, iroko, intule, kambala, moreira, mvule, odum and tule.
Triplochiton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. It is a small genus of trees comprising tall tropical African trees with palmately lobed alternate leaves like those of the maple and being included in the Sterculiaceae subfamily of Malvaceae.
The Guinean montane forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa.
The Guineo-Congolian region is a biogeographical region in Africa straddling the Equator and stretching from the Atlantic Ocean through the Congo Basin to the Congo / Nile divide in Rwanda and Burundi. Formerly, this region was largely covered in rain forest, on both well-drained sites and in swamp forests, but little undisturbed primary forest now remains, having been replaced in many areas by savanna and secondary-growth forest.
The Victoria Basin forest–grassland mosaic is an ecoregion that lies mostly in Uganda and extends into neighboring countries. The ecoregion is centered north and west of Lake Victoria, with an outlier on the border of Ethiopia and South Sudan.