Terrestrial mammals of Mozambique: current knowledge and future challenges for conservation

Isabel Queirós Neves (FCUL)

Existing knowledge about the biodiversity of Mozambique is scarce across most taxonomic groups. Long periods of armed conflict seriously affected wildlife and scientific research, contributing to this lack of knowledge. 

My doctoral thesis aimed to compile and map current knowledge about the occurrence of terrestrial mammal fauna in Mozambique, to discuss the challenges for biodiversity conservation in the country. 

To meet these goals, an inventory on terrestrial mammal presence was compiling integrating primary species-occurrence data from GBIF portal; natural history collections; recent survey reports, and scientific literature. 

I will present the worked developed to i) update the list of terrestrial mammal species reported for the country; ii) investigate the data bias and gaps in knowledge regarding the distribution of terrestrial mammals in Mozambique, providing priority areas for future surveys; iii) produce the first assessment on the effectiveness of Mozambique’s conservation areas to protect the lesser-known taxa given global change and further suggests priority areas for conservation.

Finally, I will discuss the contribution of different data sources to the inventory and the importance of digitization and mobilization of biodiversity data in poorly studied countries. 

Thursday, June 25, 2020, at 11:00am (Lisbon time)

ONLINE, on our YouTube channel, here: https://youtu.be/5RfJKDdASkE