REPORT ON ANT, AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE ASSESSMENT OF MT. NAMULI, MOZAMBIQUE AND BASELINE STUDY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN CURRUCA COMMUNITY, NAMULI CHIEF OF PARTY SUMMARY ​ ​ Majka Burhardt Chief of Party LEGADO (formerly called the Lost Mountain) th October 28 ,​ 2015 ​ LEGADO (formerly called the Lost Mountain) is an international venture combining integrated conservation planning, rock climbing, and cliff-side scientific research on Mt. Namuli, located in Zambezia Province, Mozambique. The project commenced in 2011 with a Phase I reconnaissance trip to Mt Namuli. Phase II took place in May of 2014, when an 18-person international team explored Malawi’s Mt. Mulanje and Mozambique’s Mt. Namuli, conducting scientific- and conservation-focused fieldwork, using rock climbing to access previously unexplored habitats, and capturing media for a forthcoming film. Phase II yielded a biodiversity assessment by the Lost Mountain Science team, led by Dr. Flavia Esteves, and an assessment of potential for an integrated conservation project, performed by Mozambican development organization, LUPA. The biodiversity assessment built on past assessments to further establish that Namuli is an inselberg of critical biological significance in the Eastern Afromontane bioregion due to its distinctive flora and fauna. This assessment confirmed the significance of this region due to its insect and herpetological diversity, as elaborated in the attached Report On Ant, Amphibian ​ And Reptile Assessment Of Mt. Namuli, Mozambique (Appendix 1). Results include: ​ ● 14 amphibian and 18 reptile species recorded, adding 11 species to the checklist of known herpetofauna of Namuli ● Discovery of one new snake species, yet to be described ● Second record of a caecilian (Scolecomorphus kirkii, order Gymnophiona, Amphibia) in Mozambique, also the fifth and southernmost recording of this species in the world ● First-ever comprehensive ant collection on Mulanje and Namuli massifs; 36 total ant genera collected, including 5 genera never before collected to Mozambique (Agraulomyrmex, Axinidris, Cyphoidris, Euponera, and Prionopelta), and 12 new ​ records to Malawi (Acropyga, Carebara, Hypoponera, Leptogenys, Mesoponera, Palthotyreus, Paraparatrechina, Pheidole, Plagiolepis, Probolomyrmex, Solenopsis, and ​ Tapinoma) ​ ● 60 ant species recorded on Namuli; 35 on Mulanje (final identification) ● Collection of the rare ant genus Promyopias on Mulanje massif — the second record for the genus in Malawi, 101 years after its first collection, and the seventh for Africa. It will be the first specimen available for DNA extraction within this genus, and an unique opportunity for better understanding relatedness of some ant lineages. The community natural resources assessment demonstrated the range of development and conservation challenges this region faces, including extreme poverty, isolation, and the absence of engagement by state institutions, NGOs, or the private sector. As elaborated in the ​ attached Baseline Study on the Management of Natural Resources in Currcua Community, ​ Namuli (Appendix 2), difficulties facing the Namuli area include lack of access, infrastructure, formal education, health care, and land or resource governance coupled with extensive slash and burn agriculture. There was a high level of community participation and engagement in the situation assessment, particularly as it related to the opportunity for key development needs to be met. Mt. Namuli is an undoubtedly unique mountain landscape with an exceptional degree of biodiversity and a high concentration of communities who depend heavily on the ecosystem services it provides. It is, at the same time, a microcosm representative of many other high conservation value areas in the Eastern Afromontane, where maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem service values is tremendously challenged by extreme poverty, lack of access, and lack of services or governance. Phase III of The Lost Mountain seeks to creatively support modest but measurable conservation and development gains for Namuli, and, furthermore, to strongly establish a new innovation-based practice for conservation tools to be used in other situations. We will do this by advancing further studies and integrated conservation and development planning, supported by 21st century media tools, diverse sources of funding, a broad-base constituency, creative advocacy, and engagement of youth. Our hallmark will continue to be bridging the connection among science, conservation, adventure, education, and action. Please note: In October 2015 The Lost Mountain officially changed its name to LEGADO. This report therefore uses both names on the title and the Lost Mountain within the actual document as that was the name of the initiative during the time the field work was conducted. REPORT ON ANT, AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE ASSESSMENT OF MT. NAMULI, MOZAMBIQUE October 2015 Dr. Flavia Esteves California Academy of Sciences, USA Lead Scientist, Lost Mountain Project OVERVIEW The Lost Mountain Project (now called LEGADO) is focused on the conservation of Mt. Namuli – a highly biologically diverse and threatened region, with no conservation status, and missing baseline knowledge on some components of its biodiversity, which undermines conservation efforts (CEPF 2012). The need for comprehensive inventories of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates encouraged the formation of the Lost Mountain Scientific team. The team aimed to assess the ant, amphibian, and reptile diversity and set a baseline for conservation planning. Mt. Namuli, a 2,419-meter inselberg, is located in the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot. It is one of the largest peaks in the northern part of Mozambique and is among the oldest mountains of Africa (Burgess et al. 2004). ​ ​ DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA The Eastern Afromontane ecoregion encompasses scattered mountains running along the eastern edge of Africa and possesses one of the highest concentrations of endemic and threatened organisms on earth (Burgess et al. 2004). It was once called the Afromontane ​ ​ archipelago (White 1983) thanks to its fragmented aspect; it is the only archipelago-like hotspot among the 34 of the world (Burgess et al. 2004). The mountain “islands” act as cradles and ​ ​ museums of life: during the Quaternary climate change, the Indian Ocean and East Africa’s Great Lakes kept the mountains wetter than the surrounding lowlands, allowing their biodiversity to evolve in isolation (Burgess et al. 2004). As a result, each one of the mountains ​ ​ contains distinctive flora surrounded by other vegetation types (e.g., miombo woodland) (Burgess et al. 2004). ​ ​ Mt. Namuli and neighboring formations (such as Mt Mulanje in Malawi) are an understudied system with potentially high biological value, housing animals and plants not yet discovered by science (Branch et al. 2014; Branch & Bayliss 2009; Portik et al. 2013b; among others), as well ​ ​ ​ as a significant number of species found nowhere else in the world. Because of their geological history (see below) and location, the biodiversity present on Mt. Namuli and the surrounding 1 region may form an important link between the southern and the northern components of the Eastern Afromontane biome (Bayliss et al. 2014; Timberlake et al. 2012). A reconnaissance trip was held on the Namuli massif in November 2011. Our main field expedition took place in May 2014, and was concentrated in two sites: on the Mulanje massif th th th th (May 7 to May 9 ,​ 2014) in Malawi, and on the Namuli massif (May 19 to May 29 ,​ 2014) in ​ ​ ​ ​ Mozambique. 1. Mulanje Massif ​ The Mulanje massif, a granitic inselberg that contains the highest mountain in south-central Africa (the Sapitwa peak reaches over 3000 m), covers about 650 km2 of southeastern Malawi ​ (WWF 2014; Wisborg & Jumbe 2010; Figure 1). Part of the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot, it is surrounded by the districts of Phalombe and Mulanje, small-scale cultivation, and tea estates (WWF 2014; Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). The massif constitutes an essential water catchment area for the surrounding region: nine rivers have their sources at its plateau (WWF 2014; Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). Figure 1. Satellite image of the Mulanje massif. Image by Map data 2015: Google, DigitalGlobe, US Depart of State geographer, CNES. 2 o The average maximum temperature at the Mulanje massif is around 24 C​ in the summer and ​ 12o C in the winter (Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). The rainy season happens from November to April, ​ but rainfall varies with geography and ranges from 300 mm in the southwest section to around 3000 mm on the Lichenya Plateau (Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). Soils are acid (pH 4.2-4.9) and classified as Humic Ferrisols (WWF 2014). Vegetation also presents enormous variation in response to factors as altitude, aspect, soils, and incidence of fire (Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). The habitats present in the massif are the miombo woodland (dominated by Brachystegia), lowland forest, montane forests, grasslands ​ ​ and vegetation on rocky outcrops (WWF 2014). The massif is protected under a forest reserve status since 1927, and was declared a UNESCO 'Man and the Biosphere Reserve' in 2000 (Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). However, those designations do not guarantee complete ecosystem protection, and human activities have impacted the natural resources present in the area (Wisborg & Jumbe 2010). 2. Namuli Massif ​ The Darwin Initiative report (Timberlake et al. 2009) provides a thorough description of Namuli’s geography, climate, geophysical characteristics,