Forest-savanna mosaic

Forest-savanna mosaic is a transitory ecotone between the tropical moist broadleaf forests of Equatorial Africa and the drier savannas and open woodlands to the north and south of the forest belt. The forest-savanna mosaic consists of drier forests, often gallery forest, interspersed with savannas and open grasslands.

Ecoregions

The World Wildlife Fund recognizes several distinct forest-savanna mosaic ecoregions:

• The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic is the transition between the Upper and Lower Guinean forests of West Africa and the West Sudanian savanna. The ecoregion extends from Senegal on the west to the Cameroon Highlands on the east. The Dahomey Gap is a region of Togo and Benin where the forest-savanna mosaic extends to the coast, separating the Upper and Lower Guinean forests.^[1]
• The Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic lies between the Congolian forests of Central Africa and the East Sudanian savanna. It extends from the Cameroon Highlands in the west to the East African Rift in the east, encompassing portions of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and southwestern Sudan.^[2]
• The Western Congolian forest-savanna mosaic lies southwest of the Congolian forest belt, covering portions of southern Gabon, southern Republic of the Congo, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northwestern Angola.^[3]
• The Southern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic lies east of the Western Congolian forest savanna mosaic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, separating the Congolian forests to the north from the Miombo woodlands to the south.^[4]
• The Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic lies to the east and north of Lake Victoria in East Africa, and is surrounded on the east and west by the montane forests of the East African Rift's Western and Eastern arcs. The ecoregion covers much of Uganda, extending into portions of eastern Kenya, northwestern Tanzania, and eastern Rwanda.

References