the most damage were the areas with the most deforestation.
African Tropical Forests
The largest forest in Africa is the Congo Basin Rainforest. Other African major Rainforests include the Guinean Forests, the Eastern Afromontane, the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa, and the Forests of Madagascar.
The Congo Forest, located in Central Africa, has an area of approximately 1.8x106Km2. It extends from the Congo Basin to the Atlantic Ocean.
Half of Africa's animal species are in its rainforests. It is also estimated that 6,000 plant species exist in African forests. Nevertheless, compared with other forests, Africa has low diversity.
Low African diversity is partly attributed to the past climate of the area. It went through dry periods that wiped local species.
It is estimated that African tropical rain forests are larger carbon sinks than the Amazon. This is because in average trees in Africa are wider and taller than those in the Amazon. The Conversation
Some of the characteristic animals of these tropical forests include orangutans, chimpanzees, elephants, leopards, drill monkeys, African buffalo, cheetahs, warthogs, hippos, rhinos, giraffe, zebra, caracal, lions, baboons, and other megafauna.
African rainforests appear to be relatively poor in tree species compared to those of America and Asia. The most important commercial species belong to the Meliaceae family. Science Direct
One of the major threats to African Tropical forests is how little information we have about them. This is mainly because fragmented politics and civil conflicts. Source: Royal Society
There are other semi evergreen and deciduous forests in Africa, but as mentioned before due to lack of studies, most of the information is focused in the Congo Rainforest.
Tropical Forest Importance
Tropical forests hold 50% of world's timber and could potentially produce 75% of world's wood products if harvested efficiently.
Many common products used every day, were initially found in tropical forests. For example: bananas, cocoa, natural rubber, palm oil, rattan, and vanilla.
Tropical Forests hold scores of unknown compounds that may be used in medicine, agriculture, clothing, and industry.
In Tropical Forests water vapor entering the atmosphere via evapotranspiration is retained regionally, and recycled as rainfall.
Forests act as carbon sinks storing it as biomass or in its soils.
If you are interested in reading more about tropical rain forests I suggest you get this excellent book found on Amazon. Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Diversity, and Conservation. It gives a complete view on the state of rain forests, its values, and threats.
Tropical Forests Threats
Half of tropical forests have been destroyed. Source: UCMP.Berkley.edu
Deforestation does not only result in forest loss but in habitat fragmentation. The outcome offers an insufficient amount of habitat for larger, or wide-ranging species of animals.
There is the possibility of developing sustainable forestry combined with conservation.
In the Amazon the greatest threats are deforestation for agriculture, mining, dam construction and cattle production. In Africa it is expanding population and pressure for agriculture.
In Asia the greatest pressure is commercial logging. Science Direct
About Tropical Forest Map
A biome is a large area defined by its soil, vegetation, climate, and wildlife. These are: freshwater, marine, savanna, tropical forest, temperate forest, and taiga.
If you subdivide these biomes you will get ecoregions.
Ecoregions are "defined as relatively large units of land or water containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities sharing a large majority of species, dynamics, and environmental conditions" FAO. The boundaries of these units are approximate to the original extent before major land use change.
This map shows the tropical forest biome and its ecoregions.
Resources for Tropical Rain Forest Map
The shapefiles to create the map with ecoregions of the world were obtained from WWF. The shapefiles with the countries of the world were downloaded from Natural Earth.
Made by Luz K. 