Gallery forest in Brazil. Courtesy of Mongabay.com.
The gallery forests is a forest formation associated with courses of rivers, wetlands, or other sources of permanent water. Gallery forests occur in areas that do not support forest or support only scrub, grasslands, with scattered trees.
The Gallery forest occurs along permanent or semi-permanent sources due to the availability of water for most or part of the year and also due to the rich soils associated with alluvial floodplains along rivers. The width of a gallery forest is relatively narrow and often ends abruptly to give way to the surrounding habitat.
Gallery forest of different width along a river in Brazil. Courtesy of Mongabay.com.
The species composition of a typical gallery forest reflects that of the nearest continuous forest as waterways often traverse woodlands or act as corridors through wooded and open habitats such as grasslands and savannahs.
See more Neotropical bird habitats.
References:
Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation. Stotz Douglas F., Fitzpatrick John W., Parker Theodore A. III, and Moskovits Debra K. University of Chicago Press, 1996.