Guinean montane forests
Guinean montane forests | |
---|---|
Guinean moist forests | |
Protected | 8,715 km² (28%)[1] |
The Guinean montane forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa.[2][3][4]
The ecoregion occupies the portions of the
Average rainfall is between 1,600 and 2400 mm per year and many important rivers have their sources in these mountains.[5]
Flora
These mountains have a distinct plant cover in various phases according to elevation, with up to 35 endemic species including a
Fauna
Leopards (Panthera pardus) are the largest predator in the ecoregion. The ecoregion supports populations of the endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus).
Near-endemic birds include Sierra Leone prinia (
Endemic amphibians include the western Nimba toad (
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
- Loma Mountains Non-hunting Forest Reserve, Sierra Leone
- Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire (with plans to extend into Liberia)
- Mont Sângbé National Park, Côte d'Ivoire
- Tingi HillsNon-hunting Forest Reserve, Sierra Leone
- Ziama Strict Nature Reserve, Guinea
References
- ^ 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. [1]
- ^ "Map of Ecoregions 2017". Resolve. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ "Guinean montane forests". Digital Observatory for Protected Areas. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ "Guinean montane forests". The Encyclopedia of Earth. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
- ^ "Guinean montane forests." WWF ecoregion profile. Accessed November 16, 2012 [2]
- ^ "Fouta-Djalon". 'Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Accessed 30 September 2015. [3]
- ^ "Arthroleptis crusculum" IUCN Red List. Accessed 28 September 2015
- ^ "Ptychadena submascareniensis". IUCN Red List. Accessed 28 September 2015. [4]