Congolian rainforests
Congolian rainforests | |
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Ecology | |
Realm | Afrotropical |
Biome | Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
Geography | |
Countries |
The Congolian rainforests (French: Forêts tropicales congolaises) are a broad belt of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests which extend across the basin of the Congo River and its tributaries in Central Africa.
Description
The Congolian rainforest is the world's second-largest tropical forest, after the Amazon rainforest. It covers over 500,000,000 acres (2,000,000 km2) across six countries and contains a quarter of the world's remaining tropical forest.[1][2] The Congolian forests cover southeastern Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, the northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo, and portions of southern and central Africa. The Congolian rainforest is home to a large number of flora and fauna, including more than 10,000 species of plants and over 10,000 species of animals. It is estimated that the region contains more than a quarter of the world’s plant species and is home to one of the world’s most threatened primate species, the western lowland gorilla.[4] There are also a number of other species of primates, including the chimpanzee, black colobus monkey, red colobus monkey, and olive baboon.
To the north, south, and southwest, the forests transition to drier
Ecoregions
The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Congolian forests into six distinct ecoregions:
- Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Northwestern Congolian lowland forests (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of Congo)
- Western Congolian swamp forests (Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Eastern Congolian swamp forests (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Central Congolian lowland forests (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Northeastern Congolian lowland forests (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic)
Flora and fauna
The Congolian rainforests are home to over 10,000 species of plants of which 30% are
There are over 400 species of mammals in the rainforest, including
is endemic to the northeastern Congolian rainforests.The rainforests have 1,000 native species of birds like the
Conservation
Threats to the rainforests include destruction and fragmentation of forests by commercial logging,
References
- ^ "Congo Basin Forest Partnership". USAID. Archived from the original on 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^ a b c d e "Congo Basin". World Wildlife Fund. World Wildlife Fund - WWF. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ Linder, H. Peter, Helen M. de Klerk Julia Born et al. (2012). "The partitioning of Africa: statistically defined biogeographical regions in sub‐Saharan Africa". Journal of Biogeography Volume 39, Issue 7 May 2012. [1]
- PMID 23878331.
- ^ "Deforestation in the Congo Rainforest". Mongabay.
- ^ Kinver, Mark (2019-09-12). "World 'losing battle against deforestation'". BBC News.
- ^ "Analysis: The next Amazon? Congo Basin faces rising deforestation threat". Reuters. 11 November 2022.
- ^ "Analysis: Preventing deforestation in the Congo". ecologi. 14 February 2024.
External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120308120322/http://www.whrc.org/mapping/pantropical/carbonmap2000.html
- Congo Basin Ecoregions, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
- The Congo Rainforest
- Congo Rainforest and Basin (WWF)
- [2]