Abstract
AbstractThe Savanna Biomes (Mesic/Dystrophic and Arid/Eutrophic) of Angola cover over 90% of the country. This Chapter presents the case for the recognition, across Africa, of these two distinctive savanna biomes, both defined by the co-dominance of fire-tolerant trees and C4 grasses, falling within seasonal climates of warm, wet summers and mild, dry winters. The Mesic Savanna Biome occurs predominantly on the dystrophic (nutrient-poor) soils of the old peneplains of the Central African Plateau, mostly between 900 and 1400 m above sea level, and where rainfall ranges from 650 to 1400 mm per year. Fire is the main consumer of the grasslands, and is the key determinant of tree/grass dynamics. The biome covers 68% of Angola, and includes six ecoregions, to which may be added two ecoregions with a mosaic of tallgrass mesic savanna and forest patches occupying a further 16%, where Guineo-congolian forests and Zambezian mesic savannas interdigitate in northern Angola. Trees of the genera Brachystegia and Julbernardia characterise what is regionally know as miombo woodland. The physical, physiognomic, floristic and faunistic characteristics and unique natural phenomena of the biome are described in detail. The importance of the catena as a landscape feature determining vegetation pattern, and the role of termitaria in providing nutrient-rich islands in a sea of nutrient-poor soils, plus the abundance of ‘underground forests’ created by woody geoxyles, represent some of the special features of the biome.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
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