Gallery forest

A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts.

As a result, the boundary between gallery forest and the surrounding woodland or grassland is usually abrupt, with the ecotone being only a few metres wide.

[2] Gallery forests have shrunk in extent worldwide as a result of human activities, including domestic livestock's preventing tree seedling establishment and the construction of dams and weirs causing flooding or interfering with natural stream flow.

As a result, the boundary between gallery forest and surrounding open areas is sharp and abrupt, with the ecotone only a few meters wide.

The exceptional nature of some of these forests makes them the object of special protection, such as those on the banks of the Tagus River in Aranjuez, which have been classified as World Heritage Sites.

[5] Early hominin species such as Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus anamensis and Homo rudolfensis have inhabited gallery forests.