A small village in Bandundu, DRC Photograph by Nick Hobgood   Central Africa: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands   220,000 square miles (569,700 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Nevada Vulnerable

· Location and General Description
· Biodiversity Features
· Current Status
· Threats
· Ecoregion Justification
· References
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Covering a broad area of southern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Southern Congolian Forest-Savanna Mosaic is a blend of forest, woodland, shrubland and grassland habitats. While the forests here boast only a few endemic species, they have a rich fauna, including a number of different antelope species and high numbers of African elephants. This rich blend of habitats provides key insights into the biogeography of Central Africa, which has experienced large climatic fluctuations over the last 10 million years. While there is only one protected area in this ecoregion, the human population is low. However, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has had unknown effects on this ecoregion and, until stability returns, no significant conservation work is likely to be accomplished.

Location and General Description

Biodiversity Features

Current Status

Types and Severity of Threats

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation

This forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion lies between lowland rainforest to the north and miombo woodland ecoregions to the south. It is separated from the Western Forest-Savanna Mosaic ecoregion to the west of the Kwango River, with some differences in species composition. The ecoregion generalized portions of six vegetation types defined by White (1983). In summary, the majority of the ecoregion consists of White’s ‘mosaic of lowland rain forest and secondary grassland,’ but also incorporates small areas of riverine forest and Kalahari Sand grasslands.

References

White, F. 1983. The vegetation of Africa: A descriptive memoir to accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO Vegetation map of Africa (3 Plates, Northwestern Africa, Northeastern Africa, and Southern Africa, 1:5,000,000). UNESCO, Paris.

For more general information on this ecoregion, go to the WildWorld version of this description.