Congolian forests

Northwestern Congolian lowland forests

Western Congolian swamp forests

Northeastern Congolian lowland forests

The Congolian forests are a broad belt of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, which extends across the basin of the Congo River and its tributaries in Central Africa.

Geography

The Congolian forests cover southeastern Cameroon, eastern Gabon, the northern and central Republic of the Congo, the northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo and portions of southern and southwestern Central African Republic.

Ecology

To the north and south, the forests transition to drier forest-savanna mosaic, a mosaic of drier forests, savannas, and grasslands. To the west, the Congolian forests transition to the coastal Lower Guinean forests, which extend from western Gabon and Cameroon into southern Nigeria and Benin; these forests zones share many similarities, and are sometimes known as the Lower Guinean-Congolian forests. To the east, the lowland Congolian forests transition to the highland Albertine Rift montane forests, which cover the Mountains lining the Albertine Rift, a branch of the East African Rift system. The Congolian Forests are a global 200 ecoregion.

The Congo Rainforest is the world’s second largest tropical forest, spans six countries, and contains a quarter of the world’s remaining tropical forest. With annual forest loss of 0.3% during the 2000s, the region has the lowest deforestation rate of any major tropical forest zone.

Ecoregions

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Congolian forests into a number of distinct ecoregions:

• Northwestern Congo 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 Congo lowland forests (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• Northeastern Congo lowland forests (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic)

See also

• Lower Guinean forests
• Flora of West-Central Tropical Africa

External links

• http://www.whrc.org/mapping/pantropical/carbonmap2000.html
• The Congo Rainforest