The endemic plants of Mozambique: diversity and conservation status

Abstract

An annotated checklist of the 271 strict-endemic taxa (235 species) and 387 near-endemic taxa (337 species) of vascular plants in Mozambique is provided. Together, these taxa constitute c. 9.3% of the total currently known flora of Mozambique and include five strict-endemic genera (Baptorhachis, Emicocarpus, Gyrodoma, Icuria and Micklethwaitia) and two near-endemic genera (Triceratella and Oligophyton). The mean year of first publication of these taxa is 1959, with a marked increase in description noted following the onset of the two major regional floristic programmes, the “Flora of Tropical East Africa” and “Flora Zambesiaca”, and an associated increase in botanical collecting effort. New taxa from Mozambique continue to be described at a significant rate, with 20 novelties described in 2018. Important plant families for endemic and near-endemic taxa include Fabaceae, Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae s.s. There is a high congruence between species-rich plant families and endemism with the notable exceptions of the Poaceae, which is the second-most species rich plant family, but outside of the top ten families in terms of endemism, and the Euphorbiaceae, which is the seventh-most species rich plant family, but third in terms of endemism. A wide range of life-forms are represented in the endemic and near-endemic flora, with 49% being herbaceous or having herbaceous forms and 55% being woody or having woody forms. Manica Province is by far the richest locality for near-endemic taxa, highlighting the importance of the cross-border Chimanimani-Nyanga (Manica) Highlands shared with Zimbabwe. A total of 69% of taxa can be assigned to one of four cross-border Centres of Endemism: the Rovuma Centre, the Maputaland Centre sensu lato, and the two mountain blocks, Chimanimani-Nyanga and Mulanje-Namuli-Ribaue. Approximately 50% of taxa have been assessed for their extinction risk and, of these, just over half are globally threatened (57% for strict-endemics), with a further 10% (17% for strict-endemics) currently considered to be Data Deficient, highlighting the urgent need for targeted conservation of Mozambique’s unique flora. This dataset will be a key resource for ongoing efforts to identify “Important Plant Areas – IPAs” in Mozambique, and to promote the conservation and sustainable management of these critical sites and species, thus enabling Mozambique to meet its commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

An updated checklist of Mozambique’s vascular plants

“…The country is an important area of plant biodiversity ( Conde et al 2014 ), deriving its plant richness from geomorphological and climatic factors ( Darbyshire et al 2019 ). Geographically, the Zambezi River, crossing Mozambique from west to east towards the Indian Ocean, roughly bisects the country into two main regions: a southern region, dominated by lowlands, and a northern region which consists of a large plateau.…”

“…According to Darbyshire et al 2019 , Mozambique has a relatively high level of plant endemism, with 572 taxa classified as strict-endemic or near-endemic, which are not evenly distributed throughout the country. Approximately 80% of Mozambique is included in the Zambezian Regional Centre of Plant Endemism ( Bandeira et al 1996 ), a continental scale phytochorion including the whole of Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, large parts of Angola, Tanzania and Mozambique, and some small parts of Zaire, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa ( White 1983 ).…”

ABS Provides Opportunities for Indigenous and Local Communities in the Limpopo National Park. An ethnobotanical survey of plants used by the Changana community, Limpopo National Park, Mozambique

“…We considered as endemic species only occurring within the Mozambique's borders. In turn, as to the "near-endemic" category, considering its lack of a generally accepted de nition [11], the criterium we adopted included the following assumptions: 1) the species is globally known from ve or fewer localities; 2) the range of the species only extends to countries bordering Mozambique.…”

Tropical Important Plant Areas, plant species richness and conservation in the British Virgin Islands

“…The resulting data on globally threatened species and regional/national species of conservation concern and their distribution, botanically rich areas and threatened habitats help deliver a strong and scientifically-sound framework for species and habitat conservation and management. In 2019, annotated checklists of threatened plant species for the Guinea-Conakry region in Guinea (Couch et al 2019a) and Mozambique (Darbyshire et al 2019) were produced using the TIPAs process and the first TIPAs of Tropical Africa were identified in Guinea (Couch et al 2019b). An endemic species list for the Ebo Forest in Cameroon, a proposed National Park, have been published during the TIPAs identification process, reinforcing the importance of this area for local conservation (Cheek et al 2018).…”