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Western Guinean Forests
The Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion (WWF #AT0130) is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, 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. Geography The ecoregion includes the lowland forests extending from the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred kilometres inland, and from western Ivory Coast across Liberia, southeastern Guinea, most of Sierra Leone, and into southwest Guinea. The terrain is relatively flat, with a mean elevation of 2,225 meters and a few isolated mountains that reach a high point of . Major rivers include the Sewa River, Mano River, Saint Paul River, Cavalla River and Sassandra River. The soils are poor, heavily leached Laterite, lateritic. The Sassandra River of Ivory Coast separates the Western Guinean forests from the Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taï National Park
Taï National Park () is a national park in Ivory Coast that contains one of the last areas of primary rainforest in West Africa. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its flora and fauna. Five mammal species of the Taï National Park are on the Red List of Threatened Species: pygmy hippopotamus, olive colobus monkeys, leopards, chimpanzees, and Jentink's duiker. Taï National Park is approximately from the Ivorian coast on the border with Liberia between the Cavalla River, Cavalla and Sassandra River, Sassandra rivers. It covers an area of with a buffer zone up to . The Taï Forest reserve was created in 1926 and promoted to national park status in 1972. It was recognized as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1978 and added to the list of Natural World Heritage Sites in 1982. The Taï Forest is a natural reservoir of the Ebola virus. The World Health Organization has expressed concern over the proximity of this reservoir to Félix-Houphouët- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sassandra River
The Sassandra River is a river of western Ivory Coast in West Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Tienba River, which originates in the highlands of north-western Ivory Coast, and the Gouan River (also known as the Bafing Sud River), which originates to the west in the highlands of Guinea. The Sassandra flows south-southeast to empty into the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The Buyo Dam was constructed across the middle stretch of the river in 1980, just below the confluence with the Nzo River, to create the reservoir called Lake Buyo. The Davo River joins the Sassandra just before it meets the sea. The port town of Sassandra lies on the seacoast where the river meets the sea. The Sassandra and its tributaries flow through terrestrial ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coula Edulis
''Coula edulis'' is a tree in the genus '' Coula'', native to tropical western Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola. Both the timber and nuts have a number of uses. Description It is an evergreen tree growing to a height of , and has a dense crown that can cast deep shade. The leaves are arranged alternately, simple, long and 4 cm broad, with an entire margin and an acuminate apex. The flowers are produced from April to June, and are greenish yellow, with either four or five petals. The nut is an ellipsoidal drupe available from August to January, 3–4 cm long, with flesh surrounding the kernel, 5–6 mm thick, smooth in texture and can be red or green. The kernel shell is extremely hard and makes germination difficult. The nuts are usually found under the mother trees. Common names include Gabon nut and African walnut. It is not related to the walnut, being so named because its nuts bear a superficial resemblance to the walnut. ;Local names *Anamemila, Apopo, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allanblackia Floribunda
''Allanblackia floribunda'', known in English as 'tallow tree', is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae that has been long used in traditional African medicine to treat hypertension. It is a common understory tree in rainforests in western central Africa - from Sierra Leone to western Cameroon, and on into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The medium-sized tree (up to 30 meters tall) is evergreen and dioecious (male and female flowers on different plants). The wood is said to be resistant to termites but is not particularly durable. It is fairly easy to work and finishes well but it is of little commercial importance though it has appeared on the market in Liberia as "lacewood". Uses The wood is used in Nigeria in hut-building for making walls, doors, and window frames, and in Liberia for planks. In Ghana, small trees are cut for poles and used as mine pit props and bridge piles. The twigs are used in Ghana as candlesticks, and the smaller ones as chew-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strombosia Glaucescens
''Strombosia'' is a plant genus of about 10 species in the family Olacaceae. It has also been classified in the family Strombosiaceae. The generic name is from the Greek ', meaning "pear-shaped", referring to the fruit. Description ''Strombosia'' species grow as shrubs or trees. The flowers are bisexual with 5 petals. The fruits are drupes (pitted) with a thin, fleshy pericarp. Distribution and habitat ''Strombosia'' species are distributed mostly in tropical Africa, with others in tropical Asia. Their habitat is typically lowland forests. Species , Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ... recognised 11 species: * '' Strombosia ceylanica'' * '' Strombosia fleuryana'' * '' Strombosia gossweileri'' * '' Strombosia grandifolia'' * '' Stro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slash-and-burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation, or "slash", is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the Biomass (ecology), biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the Soil fertility, soil fertile, as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species. After about three to five years, the plot's productivity decreases due to depletion of nutrients along with weed and pest invasion, causing the farmers to abandon the field and move to a new area. The time it takes for a swidden to recover depends on the location and can be as little as five years to more than twenty years, after which the plot can be slashed and burned again, repeating the cycle. In Bangladesh and India, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Savanna Climate With Dry Winters
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's axial tilt; the width of the tropics (in latitude) is twice the tilt. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone (see geographical zone). Due to the overhead sun, the tropics receive the most solar energy over the course of the year, and consequently have the highest temperatures on the planet. Even when not directly overhead, the sun is still close to overhead throughout the year, therefore the tropics also have the lowest seasonal variation on the planet; "winter" and "summer" lose their temperature contrast. Instead, seasons are more commonly divided by precipitation variations than by temperature variations. The tropics maintain wide diversity of local climates, such as rain forests, monsoons, savannahs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (temperate), ''D'' (continental), and ''E'' (polar). Each group and subgroup is represented by a letter. All climates are assigned a main group (the first letter). All climates except for those in the ''E'' group are assigned a seasonal precipitation subgroup (the second letter). For example, ''Af'' indicates a tropical rainforest climate. The system assigns a temperature subgroup for all groups other than those in the ''A'' group, indicated by the third letter for climates in ''B'', ''C'', ''D'', and the second letter for climates in ''E''. Other examples include: ''Cfb'' indicating an oceanic climate with warm summers as indicated by the ending ''b.'', while ''Dwb'' indicates a semi-Monsoon continental climate, monsoonal continental climate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Savanna Climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than of precipitation and also less than 100-\left (\frac \right)mm of precipitation. This latter fact is in a direct contrast to a tropical monsoon climate, whose driest month sees less than of precipitation but has ''more'' than 100-\left (\frac \right) of precipitation. In essence, a tropical savanna climate tends to either see less overall rainfall than a tropical monsoon climate or have more pronounced dry season(s). It is impossible for a tropical savanna climate to have more than as such would result in a negative value in that equation. In tropical savanna climates, the dry season can become severe, and often drought conditions prevail during the course of the year. Tropical savanna climates often feature tree-studded grasslands due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity Hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a ecoregion, biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the concept was revised following thorough analysis by Myers and others into "Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions" and a paper published in the journal ''Nature'', both in 2000. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers' 2000 edition of the hotspot map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (more than 0.5% of the world's total) as Endemism, endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation. Globally, 36 zones qualify under this definition. These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a high share of those species as endemics. Some of these hots ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinean Forests Of West Africa
Forest along the Edéa.html" ;"title="Sanaga River at Edéa">Sanaga River at Edéa, Cameroon The Guinean forests of West Africa is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International, which includes the belt of Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, 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 extend from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana to Togo in the east. The Lower Guinean forests extend east from Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon. The Lower Guinean forests also extend south past the Sanaga River, the southern boundary of the hotspot, into southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Cab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
