Scientists find hundreds of unique species in Africa’s newest and most threatened ecoregion

• Scientists propose the ‘South East Africa Montane Archipelago’(SEAMA) as a distinct ecoregion of global biological importance
• The study documents 127 plant species, and 90 species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, butterflies, and freshwater crabs, all of which are endemic
• The new ecoregion will create an important platform from which to develop regional conservation initiatives

After two decades of biological surveys and over 30 scientific expeditions, groundbreaking research in southern Africa has unearthed a wealth of previously undocumented biodiversity in a newly recognised ecoregion.

The findings are so significant that scientists from across the world, which included Dr Gabriela Bittencourt, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, have officially proposed that the area be considered a new ecoregion - the South East Africa Montane Archipelago (SEAMA). The mountains stretch across northern Mozambique to Mount Mulanje in Malawi, southern Africa’s second highest mountain. 

The study documents 127 plant species, and 90 species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, butterflies, and freshwater crabs, all of which are endemic (found nowhere else on Earth) and found on the regions mountains. 

The mountains were formed hundreds of millions of years ago, and host both the largest (Mount Mabu) and the smallest (Mount Lico) mid-elevation rainforests in southern Africa, as well as biologically unique montane grasslands.

According to Professor Bayliss, lead author and Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University, “Ecological regions (ecoregions) are widely used to inform global conservation priorities. They define large expanses of land or water, characterised by geographically distinct assemblages of animals and plants. New ecoregion definitions are rare, and typically follow many years of research across a range of scientific disciplines.

Despite being globally significant for biodiversity, the ecoregion is under severe threat. Since the scientists started their surveys around 20 years ago, the mountains have lost a fifth of their rainforest extent, nearly half in some cases - one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa. Such sites of high biodiversity and natural wilderness are increasingly rare and threatened globally.

Some of the forests, like Mount Mabu, are effectively protected by local communities. Others, such as Mount Lico, are too inaccessible to face any real threat. The majority lack any kind of formal protection and are under pressure from slash and burn agriculture, hunting and demands for fuel and timber.

“Our study highlights the need to protect this unique, rather understudied, ecoregion,” commented co-author Dr Gabriela Bittencourt.

"Encouraging conservation of the South East Africa Montane Archipelago is paramount as it's clear we've only begun to scratch the surface of what we can learn about this diverse region as well as consider how these learnings can be applied to global biodiversity conservation efforts.”

Dr Harith Farooq, a biologist from the University of Lúrio in Mozambique and co-author of the study, said that more species remain to be discovered. He explained: “The ecoregion is fragmented across small isolated pockets of rainforest, montane grasslands and shrublands, each with their own unique, but distantly related, plants and animals. There is so much more to discover, but many of these species may go extinct before we can record them.”

Carl Bruessow, Director of the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust in Malawi and co-author, said: “The new SEAMA ecoregion will catalyse a renewed Malawi and Mozambican conservation commitment.”  

The results of the study have been published in the Nature journal, Scientific Reports.

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