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E-book Ecology of Angola : Terrestrial Biomes and Ecoregions

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Penilaian

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Southwards from the Maiombe, and running from Cabinda to the Cunene, is the Angolan Escarpment. This major topographic buttress between the coastal lowlands, the Marginal Mountain Chain and the interior high plateau—the planalto—is of special ecological importance. Providing a steep gradient of landscapes and habitats between the arid coast and the moist interior plateau, the Escarpment Zone has long been recognised as a centre of evolution and speciation. With a dense mosaic of forests, thickets, woodlands, savannas and grasslands, the Escarpment has provided a refuge for species from the arid lowlands and moister plateau during the climatic changes of the Pleistocene—the ‘Ice Ages’ of the Northern Hemisphere that reached tropical Africa as alternating wetter and drier periods. Rising above the Escarpment are Angola’s high peaks—Moco, Mepo and Namba. Here the cooler, moist climate provides conditions for remnant patches of Afromon-tane forest. This distinctive phytogeographic division extends as an archipelago of forest patches from the Ethiopian Highlands, down the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania, along the escarpments of Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa to Cape Town. After a gap of 2000 km across Namibia, Afromontane forests appear again in the highlands of Hu ?ila, Huambo, Benguela and Bié provinces. These remote and highly threatened forest fragments are the habitat of many species of birds, reptiles, amphibia, invertebrates and plants that are endemic to Angola, or have close relatives in other Afromontane ecosystems in eastern, southern and western Africa. They represent what were much more extensive forests during the wetter periods of the Pleistocene. They are appropriately described as providing ‘fingerprints of the past’. The greatest proportion of Angola, over two-thirds of its surface area, is occupied by mesic savannas and woodlands, known internationally as ‘miombo’.Thisbiome covers most of the planalto and the great Congo and Zambezian peneplains—the gently undulating landscapes that extend from the highlands of Malange, Huambo, Benguela and Bié to the Lundas, Moxico and Cuando Cubango. Rainfall is seasonal, falling in the hot summer, with from 650 to 1400 mm per year. Tall woodlands of deciduous trees, typically species of Brachystegia and Julbernardia, alternate with grassy valleys (mulolas) along the drainage lines, with occasional gallery forests (muxitos) that occupy moist but well-drained soils. The miombo has its own distinc-tive fauna, which includes species of antelope such as Giant Sable, Roan Ante-lope, Puku, Oribi and Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. The soils are nutrient poor, and the grasses are of low quality for herbivores, so these mesic savannas support low mammal biomass. They are shaped by regular bush fires, the great consumer of African savannas.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

577 HUN e

Penerbit

Switzerland : Springer Nature., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

465 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9783031189234

Klasifikasi

577

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Ecology

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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