Moliner Cachazo, Luis;
Makati, Kaelo;
Chadwick, Michael A;
Catford, Jane A;
Price, Benjamin W;
Mackay, Anson W;
Guiry, Michael D;
... Murray-Hudson, Frances; + view all
(2023)
A review of the freshwater diversity in the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami (Botswana): taxonomic composition, ecology, comparison with similar systems and conservation status.
Aquatic Sciences
, 85
, Article 115. 10.1007/s00027-023-01008-z.
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Abstract
Freshwater organisms in the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami (Botswana) provide direct and indirect benefits to people and the economy of the region. However, their existence could be potentially threatened by human activities (primarily, upstream water abstraction and planned hydropower structures) coupled with climate change. For their protection, it is essential to know their distribution, ecology, and status of the ecosystems that they inhabit. Publications that record taxa from the Delta at species level are scarce, particularly aquatic macroinvertebrates. Identifying organisms to species level can provide more accurate information for environmental monitoring and conservation programmes but requires significant training and expertise. Here, we present a comprehensive taxonomical review of 2204 freshwater species from the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami, with additional 355 species found in other areas of Botswana that are likely to be present in the study region. We also compare the diversity of the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami with two other tropical wetlands: the Pantanal (Brazil) and the Kakadu Region (Australia). We show that biodiversity in the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami is higher than in previous estimates, with recorded species richness dominated by phytoplankton and macroinvertebrates. Most species are widespread across the system and southern Africa. The resulting database includes new records (Bryozoa, Porifera), information on species conservation status, habitat, ecology, distribution in continental Africa, site details and taxonomical notes. This will be an essential resource for researchers, conservation managers, policy makers and consultants investigating freshwater biodiversity in tropical wetlands in the region.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A review of the freshwater diversity in the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami (Botswana): taxonomic composition, ecology, comparison with similar systems and conservation status |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00027-023-01008-z |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00027-023-01008-z |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187217 |
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