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The last Afromontane forests in Angola are threatened by fires

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 628–629 (2023)Cite this article

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Afromontane forests — a unique ecosystem of cool, moist temperate forest that is now mostly restricted to high elevations — are a relic of glacial periods, when they were much more widespread in Africa1,2. In southwestern Africa, only around 700 ha remains, all of which is located in Angola. The Namba mountain range in the highlands of western Angola contains the majority (about 85%) of the Afromontane forest patches of the region3. Despite these mountains only recently being explored by scientists3, they represent the best opportunity to conserve the most-threatened habitat in Angola — however, the situation there is alarming.

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Fig. 1: The Namba Mountains in central Angola.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratorio Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal

    Luke L. Powell, Pedro Vaz Pinto, Ninda L. Baptista, Patricia Guedes, Ana Filipa Palmeirim & Martim Melo

  2. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal

    Luke L. Powell, Pedro Vaz Pinto, Ninda L. Baptista, Patricia Guedes, Ana Filipa Palmeirim & Martim Melo

  3. School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Luke L. Powell

  4. Biodiversity Initiative, Houghton, MI, USA

    Luke L. Powell

  5. Fundação Kissama, Luanda, Angola

    Pedro Vaz Pinto, Kerllen Costa, Timóteo Júlio & Vladimir Russo

  6. A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria

    Michael S. L. Mills

  7. FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Michael S. L. Mills & Martim Melo

  8. Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED-Huíla), Lubango, Angola

    Ninda L. Baptista

  9. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ninda L. Baptista

  10. Museum für Naturkunde–Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany

    Ninda L. Baptista

  11. National Geographic, Washington, DC, USA

    Kerllen Costa

  12. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra

  13. Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola

    Amândio Luís Gomes

  14. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Eswatini, Kwaluseni, Eswatini

    Ara Monadjem

  15. Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Ara Monadjem

  16. Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Martim Melo

Authors
  1. Luke L. Powell
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  2. Pedro Vaz Pinto
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  8. Patricia Guedes
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  10. Ara Monadjem
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  12. Vladimir Russo
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  13. Martim Melo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martim Melo.

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Powell, L.L., Vaz Pinto, P., Mills, M.S.L. et al. The last Afromontane forests in Angola are threatened by fires. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 628–629 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02025-9

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