#afrotropics — Public Fediverse posts

Sacred Sites As Refuges For Native Plant Diversity In An Urbanized Tropical Landscape [Madagascar]
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00489-x <-- shared paper
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H/T @nicolas Salliou | Senior scientist at ETH Zürich
“When [the authors] investigated the potential for blue-green infrastructures for the capital of Madagascar,… a large team surveyed plant communities along a rural-urban gradient.
They found that 12 Malagasy "sacred" hill settlements, situated in the core of a pre-colonial kingdom, are particularly precious as they host a high diversity of native plants. A key insights when one considers that Madagascar is a unique hotspot for biodiversity and human cultures…”
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“In fragmented and intensively managed remnant urban green spaces, enabling natural regeneration is crucial to sustain ecosystem functioning and associated services. Natural regeneration therefore offers an important lens into ecological resilience in human-modified landscapes. Here [the authors] present one of the most comprehensive field-based assessments of urban plant diversity in the Afrotropics, comprising over 25,000 naturally regenerating woody plant individuals of 206 species (39% native) across 329 vegetation patches in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Landscape-level native species diversity declined with greater building complexity, density and socio-economic development, whereas exotic species showed no consistent associations with determinants of urban characteristics. Native species richness was highest in ‘sacred’ forest fragments, many of which contain historic remains dating back to pre-colonial times. Notably, seven of the ten most species-rich patches were located in such sites. [Their] findings highlight the potentially important role of these sites in sustaining native species diversity and indicate how socio-cultural factors can present both opportunities and barriers for tropical urban conservation and restoration...”
#sacredsites #antananarivo #madagascar #vegetation #nativeplant #urban #greenspace #tropical #hillsettlements #spatialanalysis #survey #ecosystem #biodiversity #ecology #regeneration #humanimpacts #GIS #spatial #mapping #afrotropics #forest #forestfragments #precolonial #sustainability #diversity #native #sociocultural #restoration

Sacred Sites As Refuges For Native Plant Diversity In An Urbanized Tropical Landscape [Madagascar]
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00489-x <-- shared paper
--
H/T @nicolas Salliou | Senior scientist at ETH Zürich
“When [the authors] investigated the potential for blue-green infrastructures for the capital of Madagascar,… a large team surveyed plant communities along a rural-urban gradient.
They found that 12 Malagasy "sacred" hill settlements, situated in the core of a pre-colonial kingdom, are particularly precious as they host a high diversity of native plants. A key insights when one considers that Madagascar is a unique hotspot for biodiversity and human cultures…”
--
“In fragmented and intensively managed remnant urban green spaces, enabling natural regeneration is crucial to sustain ecosystem functioning and associated services. Natural regeneration therefore offers an important lens into ecological resilience in human-modified landscapes. Here [the authors] present one of the most comprehensive field-based assessments of urban plant diversity in the Afrotropics, comprising over 25,000 naturally regenerating woody plant individuals of 206 species (39% native) across 329 vegetation patches in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Landscape-level native species diversity declined with greater building complexity, density and socio-economic development, whereas exotic species showed no consistent associations with determinants of urban characteristics. Native species richness was highest in ‘sacred’ forest fragments, many of which contain historic remains dating back to pre-colonial times. Notably, seven of the ten most species-rich patches were located in such sites. [Their] findings highlight the potentially important role of these sites in sustaining native species diversity and indicate how socio-cultural factors can present both opportunities and barriers for tropical urban conservation and restoration...”
#sacredsites #antananarivo #madagascar #vegetation #nativeplant #urban #greenspace #tropical #hillsettlements #spatialanalysis #survey #ecosystem #biodiversity #ecology #regeneration #humanimpacts #GIS #spatial #mapping #afrotropics #forest #forestfragments #precolonial #sustainability #diversity #native #sociocultural #restoration

【💡Editor's Choice】
Guillermo Uceda-Gómez et al. confirmed the predicted bee-to-fly transition with increasing elevation of Hypericum revolutum in the #MontaneGrasslands of Mount Cameroon.

#Afrotropics | #ElevationalGradients | #FloralVisitorShifts | #Nectarivory | #Pollination

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf020