The Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands is an ecoregion located on the coast of

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, an area with a variety of habitats and rich in wildlife including many endemic birds and animals.

Geography

This ecoregion consists of the strip of land that runs along the coast of Angola and the steep west-facing ridge that rises from the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast to Angola's large central plateau, to a height of about 1000m. The ecoregion contains Angola's capital

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

, a city that has grown to more than 3.5 million people.

Climate

This coast has a tropical climate with summer rains and high humidity all year round.

Flora

The area contains a mixture of types of habitat:

rain forest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s, and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

. This diverse ecoregion can be divided into three different areas according to their type of habitat. North of the Cuanza River is a forest of tall trees surrounded by tall grasses, with areas of mangrove and swamp on riverbanks especially in the river estuaries. At higher elevations on the western ridge between Dondo and Quilengues are patches of

, which shelter a rich variety of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plants and animals. These patches range in area from a few to several thousand hectares. Amboim Forest is the largest, with other forests at Gabela, Vila Nova do Seles, Dondo, Mumbondo, Asango, and Conda. The upper forests are humid, with trees reaching up to 40 meters in height, and they grade into drier forests at lower elevations. Typical canopy trees include '' Bombax buonopozense'' subsp. ''reflexum'', '' Khaya anthotheca, Blighia unijugata, Zanha golungensis, Piptadeniastrum africanum, Celtis mildbraedii'', and '' Spathodea campanulata''.

Epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s grow abundantly on the trees.Aldrich, M., Billington, C., Edwards, M., Laidlaw, R. (1997) ''A global directory of tropical montane cloud forests. Draft''. WCMC, Cambridge. Finally, on the coastal strip and the low slopes of the escarpment south of the Cuanza there are dry woodlands and wooded grasslands. (See Central African mangroves for a description of the coastal swamps).

Fauna

The forests have been home to a variety of mammals including the

African forest elephant The African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') is one of the two living species of African elephant, along with the African bush elephant. It is native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the ...

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

and

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

, but uncontrolled hunting may have completely removed these. Remaining mammals include the

yellow-backed duiker The yellow-backed duiker (''Cephalophus silvicultor'') is a shy, forest-dwelling antelope of the order Artiodactyla, from the family Bovidae. Yellow-backed duikers are the most widely-distributed of all duikers. They are found mainly in Central a ...

(''Cephalophus sylvicultor''), black-fronted duiker (''Cephalophus nigrifrons''), blue duiker (''Cephalophus monticola''), and smaller species such as the tree pangolin (''Phataginus tricuspis''), Beecroft's flying squirrel and forest giant squirrel. In the dry season animals migrate to the moister areas uphill. Larger mammals, which are found especially in the drier grasslands rather than the forests on the ridge, include roan antelope (''Hippotragus equinus''),

African forest buffalo The African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), also known as the dwarf buffalo or the Congo buffalo, is the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo. It is related to the Cape buffalo (''Syncerus caffer caffer''), the Sudan buffalo ...

(''Syncerus caffer nanus''),

African bush elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), also known as the African savanna elephant, is a species of elephant native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of three extant elephant species and, along with the African forest elephant, one ...

(''Loxodonta africana''),

southern reedbuck The southern reedbuck, rietbok or common reedbuck (''Redunca arundinum'') is a diurnal antelope typically found in southern Africa. It was first described by Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genu ...

(''Redunca arundinum''), bushbuck (''Tragelaphus scriptus'') and eland (''Taurotragus oryx''). Bird species endemic to this coast include the grey-striped spurfowl (''Pternistis griseostriatus''), red-crested turaco (''Tauraco erythrolophus''), Gabela helmet-shrike (''Prionops gabela''), white-fronted wattle-eye (''Platysteira albifrons''), Angola slaty flycatcher (''Dioptrornis brunneus''), Gabela akalat (''Sheppardia gabela''), Angola cave-chat (''Xenocopsychus ansorgei''), Pulitzer's longbill (''Macrosphenus pulitzeri''), golden-backed bishop (''Euplectes aureus''), orange-breasted bush-shrike (''Laniarius brauni''), Gabela bush-shrike (''Laniarius amboimensis''), and (found here and in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

) Monteiro's bush-shrike (''Malaconotus monteiri''). Birds with endemic sub-species include brown-chested alethe (''Alethe poliocephala hallae''), yellow-necked greenbul (''Chlorocichla falkensteini falkensteini''), and grey-backed camaroptera (''Camaroptera brevicaudata harteri''). The coastal strip is home to two endemic reptiles; a gecko ('' Hemidactylus bayonii'') and a worm lizard '' Monopeltis luandae'', and four endemic frogs; '' Hyperolius punctulatus'', Congulu forest treefrog (''

Leptopelis ''Leptopelis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Arthroleptidae. They are found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Afric ...

jordani''), Quissange forest treefrog (''Leptopelis marginatus''), and Congolo frog (''Amnirana parkeriana'').

Threats and preservation

This is a populous part of Angola and farming, logging and uncontrolled hunting are all affecting the forest habitats and the large mammals in particular are now rare. Until the 1970s the cloud forest area on the escarpment was used for planting coffee, which meant clearing the undergrowth, but coffee growing ceased during the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

and the undergrowth has renewed itself. The dry area to the south of the region has not been settled and much grassland remains. Some larger mammals have been protected in Quiçama National Park (Kissama), which is on the coast near the Cuanza River, but in general this area has been badly affected by the civil war and is poorly studied or protected.

Protected areas

11.61% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. The protected areas are Quiçãma National Park, Ilheu dos Passaros Integral Nature Reserve, and Buffalo Partial Reserve.

External links

References

{{reflist Afromontane ecoregions Afromontane forests Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Angola Montane grasslands and shrublands Zambezian region