The Central Congolian lowland forests occupy the heart of the Congo Basin within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, filling the Cuvette Centrale south of the great arc of the Congo River, which acts as a natural barrier isolating the basin along its northern, eastern, and western edges. The terrain is largely flat lowland, and its vegetation forms a mosaic: seasonally inundated and permanent swamp forests in the north give way to drier semi-evergreen rainforest and patches of grassland in the south, with dominant canopy trees including Gilbertiodendron dewevrei and Staudtia stipitata. The climate is hot and humid with little seasonal variation, mean maximum temperatures near 30 degrees Celsius in the central portion easing toward the southeast margins. This remote region holds the world's largest populations of the bonobo, which is endemic to the DRC, alongside African forest elephants, the strictly endemic Dryas monkey, and the near-endemic Congo peafowl. Much of it lies within Salonga National Park, one of the largest tropical-forest national parks in the world.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 1.3°S, 21.8°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.1°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Afrotropic
Approximate area
160,150 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: