Itigi-Sumbu thicket

The Itigi-Sumbu thicket is an ecoregion consisting of two small areas of thick shrubland in Tanzania and in Zambia, East Africa.

Setting

The thickets are found in the flatland between Lake Mweru Wantipa and Lake Tanganyika in Zambia (between 950 m and 1,200 m above sea level), and near the town of Itigi in Tanzania. The climate consists of a cool dry season from May to August, a hot dry season from August to November, and a rainy season from November to April.[1]

Flora

The extremely dense, impenetrable Itigi deciduous thicket is a unique mixture of woody shrubs 3 to 5 metres high.

Fauna

Traditionally habitat of elephant and black rhino the area is vulnerable to poaching and the rhino have been eradicated from the area. The thickets are also home to three endemic reptiles Urungu beaked snake (Rhinotyphlops gracilis), four-fingered skink (Sepsina tetradactyla), and a lizard Latastia johnstoni.

Human settlement

Threats and preservation

The thickets are being extensively cleared for firewood and for cultivation as the populations of the two countries grow, with 50% gone in Tanzania (which is unprotected) and 70% in Zambia, which does have some protection in the Mweru Wantipa National Park. The largest blocks of thicket remain on the northern shores of Lake Mweru Wantipa and in the eastern portion of the Zambian Itigi thicket.

gollark: I'm fine with QLC for desktop stuff but if I'm buying an SSD for my home server it'll probably be TLC.
gollark: QLC is 4 but öh well.
gollark: TLC is three...
gollark: MLC is two bits a cell...
gollark: NAND flash had turned out to be waaay more reliable than people thought, I suspect.

References
  1. "Itigi-Sumbu thicket". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.