Africa’s highest mountain harbours Africa’s tallest trees

Hemp, Andreas; Zimmermann, Reiner; Remmele, Sabine; Pommer, Ulf; Berauer, Bernd; Hemp, Claudia; Fischer, Markus (2017). Africa’s highest mountain harbours Africa’s tallest trees. Biodiversity and conservation, 26(1), pp. 103-113. Springer 10.1007/s10531-016-1226-3

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While world records of tree heights were set by American, Australian and Asian tree species, Africa seemed to play no role here. In our study we show that Entandrophragma excelsum (Meliaceae) found in a remote valley at Kilimanjaro has to be included in the list of the world’s superlative trees. Estimating tree age from growth rates monitored by high resolution dendrometry indicates that tall individuals may reach more than 470 years of age. A unique combination of anatomical peculiarities and favorable site conditions might explain their enormous size. The late date of this discovery of Africa’s tallest trees may be due to the comparably low study efforts at Kilimanjaro compared with other biodiversity hotspots. Since only a few square kilometers of this habitat of Entandrophragma are left, Kilimanjaro (and Africa) is about to lose not only a unique biogeographical archive with highly diverse vegetation, but also its tallest trees. The inclusion of these valleys into the immediately neighboring Kilimanjaro National Park would be an excellent and urgent possibility of protection.

Keyword

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Plant Ecology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)

UniBE Contributor:

Fischer, Markus

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

0960-3115

Publisher:

Springer

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

30 May 2017 15:47

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:03

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s10531-016-1226-3

Related URLs:

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Biodiversity; East Africa; Entandrophragma excelsum; Global change; Tree growth; Tropical submontane and lower montane forest

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.96008

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/96008

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