The Role of Climate and Topography in Shaping the Diversity of Plant Communities in Cabo Verde Islands
Carlos Neto,
José Carlos Costa,
Albano Figueiredo,
Jorge Capelo,
Isildo Gomes,
Sónia Vitória,
José Maria Semedo,
António Lopes,
Herculano Dinis,
Ezequiel Correia,
Maria Cristina Duarte,
Maria M. Romeiras
Affiliations
Carlos Neto
Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT), Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Branca Edmée Marques, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal
José Carlos Costa
Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
Albano Figueiredo
Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), Department Geography and Tourism, University of Coimbra, Colégio de São Jerónimo, 3004-530 Coimbra, Portugal
Jorge Capelo
Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
Isildo Gomes
Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Agrário (INIDA), Santiago, São Lourenço dos Orgãos CP 84, Cape Verde
Sónia Vitória
Campus do Palmarejo, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Cabo Verde, CP 279, Praia, Santiago CP 279, Cape Verde
José Maria Semedo
Campus do Palmarejo, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Cabo Verde, CP 279, Praia, Santiago CP 279, Cape Verde
António Lopes
Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT), Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Branca Edmée Marques, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal
Herculano Dinis
Direção Nacional do Ambiente (DNA-CV) & Associação Projecto Vitó, CP 47, Xaguate, S. Filipe, Ilha do Fogo CP47, Cape Verde
Ezequiel Correia
Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT), Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Branca Edmée Marques, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal
Maria Cristina Duarte
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-017 Lisboa, Portugal
Maria M. Romeiras
Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
The flora and vegetation of the archipelago of Cabo Verde is dominated by Macaronesian, Mediterranean, and particularly by African tropical elements, resulting from its southernmost location, when compared to the other islands of the Macaronesia (i.e., Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, and Canary Islands). Very likely, such a geographical position entailed higher susceptibility to extreme climatic fluctuations, namely those associated with the West African Monsoon oscillations. These fluctuations led to a continuous aridification, which is a clear trend shown by most recent studies based on continental shelf cores. Promoting important environmental shifts, such climatic fluctuations are accepted as determinant to explain the current spatial distribution patterns of taxa, as well as the composition of the plant communities. In this paper, we present a comprehensive characterization of the main plant communities in Cabo Verde, and we discuss the role of the climatic and topoclimatic diversity in shaping the vegetation composition and distribution of this archipelago. Our study reveals a strong variation in the diversity of plant communities across elevation gradients and distinct patterns of richness among plant communities. Moreover, we present an overview of the biogeographical relationships of the Cabo Verde flora and vegetation with the other Macaronesian Islands and northwestern Africa. We discuss how the distribution of plant communities and genetic patterns found among most of the endemic lineages can be related to Africa’s ongoing aridification, exploring the impacts of a process that marks northern Africa from the Late Miocene until the present.
