A new and possibly carnivorous species of Crepidorhopalon (Linderniaceae) from Mozambique.

The new species Crepidorhopalon droseroides from Mozambique is described and illustrated. It represents the third strict Mozambique endemic in Linderniaceae, and it differs from all known species of Crepidorhopalon in the long sticky glandular hairs. The hypothesis that the species may be carnivorous is discussed. The Conservation Status is preliminarily assessed

Synsepalum chimanimani (Sapotaceae), a new species from the Chimanimani Mountains of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, with notes on the botanical importance of this area

Volume: 133Start Page: 115-13

Vegetation composition of natural gaps in Moribane forest (Mozambique)

status: publishe

Gorongosa reference database

This fasta file contains the Gorongosa National Park DNA plant DNA (P6 loop of the trnL intron) reference database built for this stud

Metadata fecal samples

This file contains metadata associated to fecal samples analysed in this study

Filtered diet data

This table contains filtered sequences. Amplicons were amplified using the universal primers “g” (5’-GGGCAATCCTGAGCCAA-3’) and “h” (5’-CCATTGAGTCTCTGCACCTATC-3’) (Taberlet et al. 2007). Sequences were obtained by a 2 x 150 bp paired-end sequencing on Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Data were filtered according to the filtering procedure described in Pansu et al. (2018): ‘Trophic ecology of large herbivores in a reassembling ecosystem’. For each sequence, the number of reads reported per sample correspond to the average among replicates that passed filtering steps

Mountains of the Mist: A first plant checklist for the Bvumba Mountains, Manica Highlands (Zimbabwe-Mozambique)

The first comprehensive plant checklist for the Bvumba massif, situated in the Manica Highlands along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, is presented. Although covering only 276 km2, the flora is rich with 1250 taxa (1127 native taxa and 123 naturalised introductions). There is a high proportion of Orchidaceae and Pteridophyta, with both groups showing a higher richness than for adjacent montane areas, which may be due to the massif’s relatively high moisture levels as a result of frequent cloud cover. However, in contrast to other mesic montane regions in southern Africa, there are relatively few near-endemic or range-restricted taxa: there is only one local endemic, Aeranthes africana, an epiphytic forest orchid. This is likely to be an effect of the massif having limited natural grassland compared to forest, the former being the most endemic-rich habitat in southern African mountains outside of the Fynbos Biome. Six other near-endemic taxa with limited distribution in this portion of the Manica Highlands are highlighted. The high number of invasive species is probably a result of diverse human activities in the area. The main species of concern are Acacia melanoxylon, a tree that is invading grassland and previously cultivated land, the forest herb Hedychium gardnerianum which in places is transforming forest understorey with an adverse effect on some forest birds, and the woody herb Vernonanthura polyanthes which invades cleared forest areas after fire. Future botanical work in the massif should focus on a more detailed exploration of the poorly known Serra Vumba on the Mozambican side and on the drier western slopes. This will allow for a more detailed analysis of patterns of endemism across the Manica Highlands

Data from: Trophic ecology of large herbivores in a reassembling African ecosystem

1. Diverse megafauna assemblages have declined or disappeared throughout much of the world, and many efforts are underway to restore them. Understanding the trophic ecology of such reassembling systems is necessary for predicting recovery dynamics, guiding management, and testing general theory. Yet there are few studies of recovering large-mammal communities, and fewer still that have characterized food-web structure with high taxonomic resolution. 2. In Gorongosa National Park, large herbivores have rebounded from near-extirpation following the Mozambican Civil War (1977-1992). However, contemporary community structure differs radically from the pre-war baseline: medium-sized ungulates now outnumber larger-bodied species, and several apex carnivores remain locally extinct. 3. We used DNA metabarcoding to quantify diet composition of Gorongosa’s 14 most abundant large-mammal populations. We tested five hypotheses: (i) the most abundant populations exhibit greatest individual-level dietary variability; (ii) these populations also have the greatest total niche width (dietary diversity); (iii) interspecific niche overlap is high, with the diets of less-abundant species nested within those of more-abundant species; (iv) partitioning of forage species is stronger in more structurally heterogeneous habitats; and (v) selectivity for plant taxa converges within guilds and digestive types, but diverges across them. 4. Abundant (and narrow-mouthed) populations exhibited higher among-individual dietary variation, but not necessarily the greatest dietary diversity. Interspecific dietary overlap was high, especially among grazers and in structurally homogenous habitat, whereas niche separation was more pronounced among browsers and in heterogeneous habitat. Patterns of selectivity were similar for ruminants—grazers and browsers alike—but differed between ruminants and non-ruminants. 5. Synthesis. The structure of this recovering food web was consistent with several hypotheses predicated on competition, habitat complexity, and herbivore traits, but it differed from patterns observed in more-intact assemblages. We propose that intraspecific competition in the fastest-recovering populations has promoted individual variation and a more nested food web, wherein rare species use subsets of foods eaten by abundant species, and that this scenario is reinforced by weak top-down control. Future work should test these conjectures and analyze how the taxonomic dietary niche axis studied here interacts with other mechanisms of diet partitioning to affect community reassembly following wildlife declines