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Information about Afrotropical

See Sub-Saharan Africa for other aspects.
The Afrotropic is one of the earth's eight ecozones. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the southern and eastern fringes of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopian Zone or Ethiopian Region.
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The Afrotropic Ecozone

Major ecological regions

Most of the Afrotropic, with the exception of Africa's southern tip, has a tropical climate. A broad belt of deserts, including the Atlantic and Sahara deserts of northern Africa and the Arabian Desert of the Arabian Peninsula, separate the Afrotropic from the Palearctic ecozone, which includes northern Africa and temperate Eurasia.

Sahel and Sudan

South of the Sahara, two belts of tropical grassland and savanna run east and west across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ethiopian Highlands. Immediately south of the Sahara lies the Sahel belt, a transitional zone of semi-arid short grassland and Acacia savanna. Rainfall increases further south in the Sudanian Savanna, also known simply as the Sudan, a belt of taller grasslands and savannas. The Sudanian Savanna is home to two great flooded grasslands, the Sudd wetland in the Sudan, and the Niger Inland Delta in Mali. The forest-savanna mosaic is a transitional zone between the grasslands and the belt of tropical moist broadleaf forests near the equator.

Southern Arabian woodlands

Forest zone

The forest zone, a belt of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests, runs across most of equatorial Africa's intertropical convergence zone. The Upper Guinean forests of West Africa extend along the coast from Guinea to Togo. The Dahomey Gap, a zone of forest-savanna mosaic that reaches to the coast, separates the Upper Guinean forests from the Lower Guinean forests, which extend along the Gulf of Guinea from eastern Benin through Cameroon and Gabon to the western Democratic Republic of the Congo. The largest tropical forest zone in Africa are the Congolian forests of the Congo Basin in Central Africa. A belt of tropical moist broadleaf forest also runs along the Indian Ocean coast, from southern Somalia to South Africa.

East African grasslands and savannas

Eastern Africa's highlands

Afromontane region, from the Ethiopian Highlands to the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, including the Great Rift Valley. Distinctive flora, including Podocarpus and Afrocarpus, as well as giant Lobelias and Senecios.

Southern African woodlands, savannas, and grasslands

Deserts of southern Africa

Cape floristic region

The Cape floristic region, at Africa's southern tip, is a Mediterranean climate region that is home to a significant number of endemic taxa, as well as to plant families like the proteas (Proteaceae) that are also found in the Australasia ecozone.

Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands

Madagascar and neighboring islands form a distinctive sub-region of the ecozone, with numerous endemictaxa like the lemurs. Madagascar and the Seychelles are old pieces of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and broke away from Africa millions of years ago. Other Indian ocean islands, like the Comoros and Mascarene Islands, are volcanic islands that formed more recently. Madagascar contains several important biospheres, as its Biodiversity and ratio of endemicism is extremely high.

Endemic plants and animals

Plants

The Afrotropic ecozone is home to a number of endemic plant families. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands are home to ten endemic families of flowering plants; eight are endemic to Madagascar (Asteropeiaceae, Didymelaceae, Didiereaceae, Kaliphoraceae, Melanophyllaceae, Physenaceae, Sarcolaenaceae, and Sphaerosepalaceae), one to Seychelles (Mesdusagynaceae) and one to the Mascarene Islands (Psiloxylaceae). Twelve plant families are endemic or nearly endemic to South Africa (including Curtisiaceae, Heteropyxidaceae, Penaeaceae, Psiloxylaceae and Rhynchocalycaceae) of which five are endemic to the Cape floristic province (including Grubbiaceae). Other endemic Afrotropic families include Barbeyaceae, Montiniaceae, Myrothamnaceae and Oliniaceae.

Animals

The Afrotropic has various endemic bird families, including ostriches (Struthionidae), sunbirds, Secretary bird (Sagittariidae), guineafowl (Numididae), and mousebirds (Coliidae). Also, several families of passerines are limited to the Afrotropics; These include rockjumpers(Chaetopidae) and rockfowl (Picathartidae).

Africa has three endemic orders of mammals, the Tubulidentata (aardvarks), Afrosoricida (tenrecs and golden moles), and Macroscelidea (elephant shrews).

Four species of Great Apes (Hominidae) are endemic to Africa: both species of Gorilla (Western Gorilla, Gorilla gorilla, and Eastern Gorilla, Gorilla beringei) and both species of Chimpanzee (Common Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, and Bonobo, Pan paniscus). Humans and their ancestors originated in Africa.

Afrotropic Terrestrial Ecoregions

Afrotropic Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests [ edit ]
Albertine Rift montane forests Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon
Cameroonian Highlands forests Cameroon, Nigeria
Central Congolian lowland forests Democratic Republic of the Congo
Comoros forests Comoros
Cross-Niger transition forests Nigeria
Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria
East African montane forests Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania
Eastern Arc forests Tanzania, Kenya
Eastern Congolian swamp forests Democratic Republic of the Congo
Eastern Guinean forests Benin, Ghana, Cte d'Ivoire, Togo
Ethiopian montane forests Ethiopia
Granitic Seychelles forests Seychelles
Guinean montane forests Guinea, Cte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone
Knysna-Amatole montane forests South Africa
KwaZulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic South Africa
Madagascar lowland forests Madagascar
Madagascar subhumid forests Madagascar
Maputaland coastal forest mosaic Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa
Mascarene forests Mauritius, Runion
Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
Niger Delta swamp forests Nigeria
Nigerian lowland forests Benin, Nigeria
Northeastern Congolian lowland forests Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of the Congo
Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania
Northwestern Congolian lowland forests Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of the Congo
So Tom and Prncipe moist lowland forests So Tom and Prncipe
Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
Western Congolian swamp forests Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo
Western Guinean lowland forests Guinea, Cte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone


Afrotropic Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests [ edit ]
Cape Verde Islands dry forests Cape Verde
Madagascar dry deciduous forests Madagascar
Zambezian Cryptosepalum dry forests Zambia, Angola


Afrotropic Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands [ edit ]
Angolan Miombo woodlandsAngola
Angolan Mopane woodlandsAngola, Namibia
Ascension scrub and grasslandsAscension Island
Central Zambezian Miombo woodlandsAngola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia
East Sudanian savannaCameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia Sudan, Uganda
Eastern Miombo woodlandsMozambique, Tanzania
Guinean forest-savanna mosaicBenin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo
Itigi-Sumbu thicketTanzania, Zambia
Kalahari Acacia-Baikiaea woodlandsBotswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Mandara Plateau mosaicCameroon, Nigeria
Northern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thicketsEthiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda
Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaicCameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda
SahelBurkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan
SerengetiKenya, Tanzania
Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thicketsEritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan
Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thicketsKenya, Tanzania
Southern Africa bushveldBotswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Southern Congolian forest-savanna mosaicAngola, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Southern Miombo woodlandsMalawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Saint Helena scrub and woodlandsSaint Helena
Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaicBurundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
West Sudanian savannaBenin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Cte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal
Western Congolian forest-savanna mosaicAngola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo
Western Zambezian grasslandsAngola, Zambia
Zambezian and Mopane woodlandsBotswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Zambezian Baikiaea woodlandsAngola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Afrotropic Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands [ edit ]
Al Hajar Al Gharbi montane woodlands Oman
Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands Amsterdam Island, Saint-Paul Island
Tristan da Cunha-Gough Islands shrub and grasslands Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island


Afrotropic Flooded grasslands and savannas [ edit ]
East African halophyticsKenya, Tanzania
Etosha Pan halophyticsNamibia
Inner Niger Delta flooded savannaMali
Lake Chad flooded savannaCameroon, Chad, Nigeria
Saharan flooded grasslandsSudan
Zambezian coastal flooded savannaMozambique
Zambezian flooded grasslandsAngola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia
Zambezian halophyticsBotswana


Afrotropic Montane grasslands and shrublands [ edit ]
Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaicAngola
Angolan scarp savanna and woodlandsAngola
Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlandsLesotho, South Africa
Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forestsLesotho, South Africa, Swaziland
East African montane moorlandsKenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaicMozambique, Zimbabwe
Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlandsEthiopia
Ethiopian montane moorlandsEthiopia
Highveld grasslandsLesotho, South Africa
Jos Plateau forest-grassland mosaicNigeria
Madagascar ericoid thicketsMadagascar
Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thicketsMozambique, South Africa, Swaziland
Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlandsDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda
South Malawi montane forest-grassland mosaicMalawi, Mozambique
Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaicMalawi, Tanzania
Afrotropic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub [ edit ]
Albany thicketsSouth Africa
Lowland fynbos and renosterveldSouth Africa
Montane fynbos and renosterveldSouth Africa


Afrotropic Deserts and xeric shrublands [ edit ]
Aldabra Island xeric scrubSeychelles
Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desertOman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
East Saharan montane xeric woodlandsChad, Sudan
Eritrean coastal desertDjibouti, Eritrea
Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublandsDjibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan
Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desertOman, United Arab Emirates
Hobyo grasslands and shrublandsSomalia
Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrubBassas da India, Europa
Kalahari xeric savannaBotswana, Namibia, South Africa
Kaokoveld desertAngola, Namibia
Madagascar spiny thicketsMadagascar
Madagascar succulent woodlandsMadagascar
Masai xeric grasslands and shrublandsEthiopia, Kenya
Nama KarooNamibia, South Africa
Namib desertNamibia
Namibian savanna woodlandsNamibia
Red Sea coastal desertEgypt, Sudan
Socotra Island xeric shrublandsYemen
Somali montane xeric woodlandsSomalia
Southwestern Arabian foothills savannaOman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Southwestern Arabian montane woodlandsSaudi Arabia, Yemen
Succulent KarooSouth Africa


Afrotropic Mangrove [ edit ]
Central African mangrovesAngola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria
East African mangrovesKenya, Mozambique, Tanzania
Guinean mangrovesSenegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cte d'Ivoire
Madagascar mangrovesMadagascar
Southern Africa mangrovesMozambique, South Africa


Terrestrial biomes
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests  Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests  Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests  Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests  Temperate coniferous forests  Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub  Boreal forests/taiga  Mangrove  Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands  Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands  Flooded grasslands and savannas  Montane grasslands and shrublands  Deserts and xeric shrublands  Tundra


Ecozones
Afrotropic  Antarctic  Australasia  Indomalaya  Nearctic  Neotropic  Oceania  Palearctic

See also

External links

Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara desert. Geographically, the demarcation line is the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.
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An ecozone or biogeographic realm is the largest scale biogeographic division of the earth's surface based on the historic and evolutionary distribution patterns of plants and animals.
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-koubra, "The Great Desert", (
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Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية, or جزيرة العرب) is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of
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Motto
Tanindrazana, Fahafahana, Fandrosoana   (Malagasy)
Patrie, liberté, progrès   (French)
"Ancestral-land, Liberty, Progress"
Anthem

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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
This article is about the water body. For the Indian fusion music band, see Indian Ocean (band).

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tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at approximately 23°30' (23.5°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°30' (23.5°) S latitude.
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Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-koubra, "The Great Desert", (
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Arabian Desert is a vast desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2,330,000 square kilometers (900,000 mi²)[4].
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The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth surface.

Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone. It includes the terrestrial ecoregions of Europe, Asia north of the Himalaya foothills, northern Africa, and the northern and
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Eurasia is an immense landmass covering about 53,990,000 km² (or about 10.6%) of the Earth's surface. Often reckoned as a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are
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Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees.
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Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres (41.1 million square miles), it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface.
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Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea (which is sometimes referred to as the Eritrean Highlands), and northern Somalia (Somaliland) in northeastern Africa.
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Sahel (from Arabic ساحل, sahil, shore, border or coast of the Sahara desert) is the boundary zone in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the more fertile region to the south, known as the Sudan (not to be confused with the country of the same
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Acacia
Miller

Species

About 1,300; see List of Acacia species

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1773.
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The Sudanian Savanna is a broad belt of tropical savanna that runs east and west across the African continent, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Ethiopian Highlands in the east.
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The Sudan, from the Arabic bilâd as-sûdân "land of the Blacks," is a geographic region in West and Eastern Africa. The phrase 'The Sudan' is also used by some to refer specifically to the country Sudan, the savannah of which forms much of the larger region.
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Flooded grasslands and savannas are a biome, generally located at subtropical and tropical latitudes, where which are flooded seasonally or year-round.

It is characterized by
  • water : very wet
  • temperature : warm
  • soils : nutrient rich soil


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Sudd (Arabic سد, sadd, "barrier") is a vast swamp formed by the White Nile in southern Sudan. Its size is variable, but during the wet season it may be over 130,000 km² in area.
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Motto
"Al-Nasr Lana"   (Arabic)
"Victory is Ours"
Anthem
نحن جند للہ جند الوطن   (Arabic)

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The Niger Inland Delta, also known as the Macina or Inner Niger Delta, is a large area of lakes and floodplains in Mali. It is located in the middle course of the Niger River, between the bifurcated Niger and its tributary, the Bani.
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Motto
"Un peuple, un but, une foi"
"One people, one goal, one faith"
Anthem
Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali
"For Africa and for you, Mali"
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Forest-savanna mosaic is a transition zone 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.
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Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome.

Tropical and subtropical forest regions with lower rainfall are home to tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and
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forest zone refers to the southern part of the region once largely covered by tropical rainforest. Sometimes this region is referred to as Guinea to distinguish it from the grassland-covered Sudan, drier Sahel and perarid Sahara.
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Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), also known as the Intertropical Front, Monsoon trough, Doldrums or the Equatorial Convergence Zone, is a belt of low pressure girdling Earth at the equator.
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The Upper Guinean forests is a tropical moist forest region of West Africa. The Upper Guinean forests extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to Togo in the east, and a few hundred kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast.
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Motto
"Travail, Justice, Solidarité"   (French)
"Work, Justice, Solidarity"
Anthem
Liberté   (French)
"Freedom"
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