(Redirected from Afrotropic):''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'.
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
★ Acacia-Commiphora grasslands
★
Serengeti
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''.
★
Ethiopian Highlands
★
Albertine rift montane forests
★
East African montane forests and
Eastern Arc forests
Southern African woodlands, savannas, and grasslands
★
Miombo woodlands
★ Zambezian Mopane and Baikiaea woodlands
★
Bushveld
Deserts of southern Africa
★
Namib Desert
★
Kalahari Desert
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
endemic taxa 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.
★
Madagascar dry deciduous forests
★
Madagascar spiny thickets
★ Eastern Madagascar lowland rainforests
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
See also
★
Global 200
External link
★
Map of the ecozones
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