The Western Congolian forest-savanna mosaic spans Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon, covering the dissected plateaus that lie between the Congo Basin to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, with the lower Congo River running through it. Its vegetation is a mosaic of wooded grassland dotted with forest, including gallery forests that line the rivers and patches of dry evergreen forest on the Bateke Plateau, where characteristic trees include Marquesia, Daniellia, and Berlinia. The climate is tropical with little seasonal variation, and rainfall increases toward the wetter Congolian and coastal rainforests at its margins. These savanna and gallery-forest habitats shelter threatened megafauna such as African forest elephants, western lowland gorillas, and chimpanzees, alongside endemics like the white-headed robin-chat and orange-breasted bush shrike, though only a small fraction of the ecoregion is protected.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 5.1°S, 15.1°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.0°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.
About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome
Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Currently suited · 4
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
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 grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: