Angolan Biodiversity: Towards a Modern Synthesis

Abstract

Angola possesses an unusually rich diversity of ecosystems and species, but this natural wealth is poorly documented when compared with other countries in the region. Both colonial history and extended wars challenged progress in biodiversity research and conservation, but since peace was achieved in 2002 a rapidly increasing level of collaboration between Angolan and visiting scientists and institutions has seen a blossoming of biodiversity research. The absence of comprehensive reviews and syntheses of existing knowledge, often published in extinct journals and inaccessible official reports, necessitates a modern synthesis. This volume brings together the existing body of scientific results from studies on Angola's landscapes, ecosystems, flora and fauna, and presents an outline of opportunities for biodiversity discovery, understanding and conservation as well as collaborative research.

A new species of feather-tailed leaf-toed gecko, Kolekanos Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the poorly explored savannah of western Angola

“…nov. Stars represent type localities. Background grey scale represent elevation ( Huntley and Ferrand 2019 ).…”

“…Scientific studies have been increasing in Angola in recent years, following a long civil war that prevented fieldwork in this region of Africa for several decades until the early 2000s ( Huntley and Ferrand 2019 ). The improved political stability and strengthening of local institutions have motivated further surveys in the coastal regions of Angola, amongst others, with the aim of assessing the distribution of these poorly-known and emblematic taxa.…”

Key Elements of Angolan Terrestrial Ecology

“…Recent efforts to synthesise knowledge on Angola's biological diversity (Huntley et al, 2019) provide testimony of the country's natural wealth, and to the urgent need to survey, document and effectively protect it.…”

Biomes: Concepts, Characteristics and Terminology

“…Analyses of Angola's species distribution and emergent biodiversity patterns have been limited by the lack of accurate and comprehensive geo-referenced data on the fine-scale distribution of its rich biodiversity. However, a synthesis of Angola's biodiversity was recently prepared by teams of experts on major taxonomic groups (Huntley et al, 2019), Table 2.1. The synthesis provides outlines of the biodiversity of all vertebrate and several invertebrate groups, relating these to biogeographic patterns across Africa.…”