The Western Guinean lowland forestsecoregion (WWF #AT0130) 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.[2][3][4][5]
Geography
The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred kilometres inland, and from western Côte d'Ivoire across Liberia, southeastern Guinea, most of Sierra Leone, and into southwest Guinea.
The climate of the ecoregion is Tropical savanna climate - dry winter (Köppen climate classification(Aw)). Temperatures can average from 30 to 33 degrees (C) in the hot months, 12 to 12 (C) in the colder months. The rainy season is May to October, with precipitation reaching 3,300 mm/year or more in the higher regions.[6][7]
Flora and fauna
Closed forest covers two thirds of the ecoregion, mostly broadleaf evergreen trees, but much of this is second-growth or otherwise disturbed by human activities. Another 22% of the terrain is open forest or shrub.[4] The term ‘farmbush’ has been applied to the degraded secondary growth that follows slash-and-burn agriculture.[2] Common trees include Dacroydes klaineana, Strombosia glaucescens, Allanblackia floribunda, Coula edulis and Diospyros sanza-minika.[2] Semi-deciduous forests occur at lower altitudes into Guinea.[2]
Because the wet areas expanded and contracted during the Ice Age, 'islands' of specialized species developed. Some of these areas of diversified floral and faunal communities are in protected areas.
Protected areas
A 2017 assessment found that 24,028 km2, or 12%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Only 2% of the unprotected area is covered by relatively-intact forest.[8] Protected areas include:
^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]
^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. [2]