Diversity and endemism of geoxylic plants on the Angolan Planalto

The Angolan Planalto and adjacent areas are characterised by flammable grassy ecosystems. Within these old-growth grasslands, geoxyles are a dominant component and play a key role in the functioning, diversity and beauty of these ecosystems. Geoxyles are a plant life form characterised by having low aboveground biomass and massive belowground wooden structures from which they can draw stored reserves and resprout quickly after disturbances such as fire. The Angolan Planalto has a high number of geoxyle taxa of which many are endemic to the area. We give an overview of the number of geoxyle taxa in these highlands based on a compilation of all available data, discuss reasons for this remarkable diversity, and point out research and conservation priorities for this important life form that is threatened by upcoming land-use changes.

• Publication year

  2023

• Venue

  Namibian Journal of Environment

• Publication date

  2023-12-16

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.64640/6zhksg12
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• No references are available for this paper.

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