Biodiversity of Vegetation and Flora in Tropical Africa

• Main Authors: Catarino, Luís, Romeiras, Maria M.
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Africa; African potato; aridification in NW Africa; Baikiaea; Bia Tano Forest Reserve; biodiversity conservation; biogeographic vicariance; Biology, life sciences; biome; commercialization; conservation; cultivation; distribution patterns; disturbance; diversity; ecotone; extinction; fire; flora; Flora e vegetação da África Tropical; forest core; gap; gene capture; gene shopping; habitat preference; Hypoxidaceae; Justicia; land cover; Macaronesian islands; Mathematics and Science; medicinal plant; miombo; Miombo woodlands; MODIS burnt area product; molecular dating; Monechma; Ngel Nyaki; niche partitioning; phylogenomics; phylogeny; plant diversity; RADseq; Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects; regeneration; Research and information: general; savanna; savannah; species composition; species diversity; species sorting; sub-Saharan Africa; torus translation; tropical biodiversity; unsustainable harvesting; vascular flora; vegetation; West African Monsoon (WAM); wild harvesting; wildfires; woodland; WWF ecoregions
• DOI: 10.3390/books978-3-03943-532-6
• ISBN: 9783039435326; 9783039435319; 3039435310; 3039435329

African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.