13 1 2030 the journal of biodiversity data 24 January 2017 Check List LISTS OF SPECIES Check List 13(1): 2030, Erratum, 24 January 2017 ISSN 1809-127X © 2017 Check List and Authors ERRATUM Woody species of the Miombo woodlands and geoxylic grasslands of the Cusseque area, south-central Angola Rasmus Revermann, Francisco Maiato Gonçalves, Amândio Luis Gomes & Manfred Finckh In Table 1, on page 7, please read “Oleaceae” in place of “Olacaceae”. The authors regret this error. The original, unaltered publication begins on the following page. i 13 1 2030 the journal of biodiversity data 6 January 2017 Check List LISTS OF SPECIES Check List 13(1): 2030, 6 January 2017 doi: https://doi.org/10.15560/13.1.2030 ISSN 1809-127X © 2017 Check List and Authors Woody species of the Miombo woodlands and geoxylic grasslands of the Cusseque area, south-central Angola Rasmus Revermann1, 4, Francisco Maiato Gonçalves1, 2, Amândio Luis Gomes1, 3 & Manfred Finckh1 1 University of Hamburg, Biocentre Klein Flottbek, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution of Plants, Ohnhorststr. 18, 22609 Hamburg, Germany 2 Herbarium of Lubango, ISCED-Huíla, Department of Natural Sciences, Rua Sarmento Rodrigues, 230 Lubango, Angola 3 University Agostinho Neto, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Av. 4 de Fevereiro, Luanda, Angola 4 Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: The species composition of the vegetation in types and over 100 subordinate types dealt with in the text most regions of Angola has been poorly studied and most (Barbosa 1970, 1971). However, the descriptions of these studies date back to the pre-independence era. In this vegetation types were of general character and limited to study, we provide a detailed account of the woody flora the dominant species. Detailed descriptions of the species of the Miombo woodlands and geoxylic grasslands of composition and plant diversity of the Angolan vegetation the Cusseque study site of “The Future Okavango” (TFO) are lacking for most parts of the country. For the province project, situated on the Angolan Central Plateau. The of Bié, Monteiro (1970) provided an excellent overview checklist is based on a vegetation survey using vegetation on the woody vegetation including the first provincial plots of 1,000 m2 and also includes records from botanical map of the woodlands. Based on 144 relevés, Monteiro collections made elsewhere at the study site. In total, we delineated three associations of woody plants and four documented 154 woody species belonging to 99 genera of sub-associations. 37 plant families in 100 km2. The study represents the first The civil war that followed Angola’s independence in 1975 comprehensive account of the woody vegetation of the made any scientific work in Angola extremely difficult, and area including all habitats and growth forms. thus, most scientific literature available today dates back to the pre-independence era. Since the end of the armed con- Key words: Angola; Bié; geoxylic suffrutex; Miombo; The Future flict in 2002, scientific work is slowly increasing. However, Okavango project; vegetation survey botanical work in the country is still hampered by the lack of field guides and the fact that the principal work on the INTRODUCTION flora of Angola, the Conspectus Florae Angolensis, remains Rural communities in Angola hold an enormous knowledge unfinished and important families such as the Rubiaceae of the local flora and especially have great understanding are not treated. Similarly, a countrywide checklist of the of the potential usages of plants (Figueiredo & Smith flora of Angola was lacking until the recent publication of 2012; Kissanga 2016). In contrast, scientific explora- “Plants of Angola – Plantas de Angola” by Figueiredo & tion and documentation of the vegetation of Angola is Smith (2008). Nevertheless, inventories of vascular plants still limited. Early botanists such as Friedrich Welwitsch at the local and regional scale are still lacking for most visited the country in the middle of the 19th century (Wel- parts of the country. Such inventories are indispensable witsch 1869). The most influential botanist working in for any kind of natural resource management planning, Angola in the first half of the 20th century was John Gos- conservation measures or ecological studies (Figueiredo sweiler, who worked in all Angolan provinces and collected et al. 2009). over 14,000 specimens. His collection is considered an The interdisciplinary research project “The Future especially important source of information for rare and Okavango” (TFO) aims to provide a scientific basis for endemic species (Figueiredo & Smith 2008). Further- strategic resource planning for the Okavango Basin. The more, Goss weiler produced the first phytogeographic map headwaters of the Okavango River, where 95% of the of Angola containing 19 principal vegetation types (Gos- runoff are generated, are located on the Angolan Central sweiler & Mendonça 1939). Based on this map and his Plateau (Steudel et al. 2013). Rapid transformations of own observations, Luís A. Grandvaux Barbosa published the social-ecological systems are currently taking place a new phytogeographic map in 1971 containing 32 main there (Pröpper et al. 2015). However, little knowledge 1 Revermann et al. | Woody species of the Cusseque area, south-central Angola and data on the vegetation and the botanical diversity was season lasting from November to April. The mean annual available (Revermann 2016). In this study, we present precipitation is 987 mm and the mean annual temperature results of the vegetation survey carried out at the research is 20.4°C (Weber 2013). The study area harbours a high site “Cusseque” in the province of Bié located at the upper pedodiversity. The elevated areas are characterized by reaches of the Okavango River. deep and developed slightly loamy Arenosols. The slopes of the smaller valleys of the tributaries and at the western MATERIALS AND METHODS side of the Cusseque River show shallow Plinthisols on granitic bedrock. The soils along the eastern part of the Study site Cusseque River are characterized by very deep and leached The Okavango River originates on the Angolan Central Arenosols. The centre of the valleys support Histosols with Plateau and terminates in a large inland delta in the peat layers exceeding 1 m in depth while at the edges of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Within the TFO project, wetlands Gleysols are the common soil type (Gröngröft detailed studies were carried out at four research sites et al. 2013a). representing the different parts of the river basin. The The main vegetation types covering south central work presented in this paper was carried out at the Angola are semi-deciduous Miombo woodlands and forests study site Cusseque with an area of 100 km2 (13.6985° S, (Figures 2a and b). These woodlands are interspersed with 017.0382° E). The site is located on the Angolan Central open vegetation types locally termed anharas de ongote. Plateau in the province of Bié (Figure 1; Wehberg & The salient feature of the open vegetation types are Weinzierl 2013). The landscape can be described as a dwarf shrubs with a huge underground woody biomass. rolling plain intersected by the Cusseque River and its This distinct life form was described by White (1976) many tributaries, which are orientated perpendicular to as “geoxylic suffrutex”. In the Cusseque area, geoxylic each other. Three major landscape units can be identified: suffrutices occur on two different soil types: on deep, the elevated areas, the sloping areas leading down to the leached sandy soils and on shallow, compact, ferralitic valley bottoms and the valley floors (Gröngröft et al. soils. Accordingly, we will differentiate herein between 2013b). The mean elevation is 1,575 m above sea level “geoxylic grasslands on sandy soils” (Figure 2c) and while the difference in elevation between the valley bottom “geoxylic grasslands on ferralitic soils” (Figure 2d). The of the main river and the surrounding elevated areas is occurrences of the different vegetation types are governed about 100 m (Gröngröft et al. 2013b). The climate of by topography: woodlands and forests are confined to the Cusseque area is semi-humid with a pronounced wet the elevated areas and upper slopes. The mid- and lower Figure 1. Location of the Okavango Basin in southern Africa and the study site “Cusseque” denoted in red. (Projection: WGS 1984; background: RapidEye high-resolution satellite imagery, recorded 1 May 2013. We acknowledge the DLR for the provision of the data from the RapidEye Science Archive.) Check List | www.biotaxa.org/cl 2 Volume 13 | Issue 1 | Article 2030 Revermann et al. | Woody species of the Cusseque area, south-central Angola Figure 2. Landscapes of the Cusseque study area: a) Miombo woodland in the middle of the rainy season, b) Miombo woodland at the end of the rainy season, c) geoxylic grasslands dominated by Cryptosepalum maraviense at the beginning of the rainy season in October, d) geoxylic grassland on sandy soils at the beginning of the dry season in May; in the background wetland on the valley bottom and Miombo woodlands. slopes feature geoxylic grasslands. The woodlands and to the unique character of the geoxylic grasslands, these geoxylic grasslands are separated by ecotones extending were subject to an additional field study. Therein, data were up to several hundred meters where elements of both collected using 10 m × 10 m plots with two 3.3 m × 3.3 m vegetation types co-occur. The valley bottoms support subplots situated in diagonally opposite corners (adapted wetlands dominated by Cyperaceae (Revermann et al. from Dengler 2009). In every plot all vascular plants 2013; Schneibel et al. 2013). found were recorded and their projected cover estimated visually. Unknown plants were photographed and voucher Data collection specimens were collected according to botanical methods outlined by Victor et al. (2004). Voucher specimens were Plot based vegetation surveys were carried out during the deposited in the herbarium of the ISCED Huíla (LUBA) growing season in the years 2011 to 2014 and all informa- and in the Herbarium Hamburgense (HBG).