Mapping Knowledge Gaps of Mozambique's Terrestrial Mammals.

A valuable strategy to support conservation planning is to assess knowledge gaps regarding primary species occurrence data to identify and select areas for future biodiversity surveys. Currently, increasing accessibility to these data allows a cost-effective method for boosting knowledge about a country's biodiversity. For understudied countries where the lack of resources for conservation is more pronounced to resort to primary biodiversity data can be especially beneficial. Here, using a primary species occurrence dataset, we assessed and mapped Mozambique's knowledge gaps regarding terrestrial mammal species by identifying areas that are geographically distant and environmentally different from well-known sites. By comparing gaps from old and recent primary species occurrence data, we identified: (i) gaps of knowledge over time, (ii) the lesser-known taxa, and (iii) areas with potential for spatiotemporal studies. Our results show that the inventory of Mozambique's mammal fauna is near-complete in less than 5% of the territory, with broad areas of the country poorly sampled or not sampled at all. The knowledge gap areas are mostly associated with two ecoregions. The provinces lacking documentation coincide with areas over-explored for natural resources, and many such sites may never be documented. It is our understanding that by prioritising the survey of the knowledge-gap areas will likely produce new records for the country and, continuing the study of the well-known regions will guarantee their potential use for spatiotemporal studies. The implemented approach to assess the knowledge gaps from primary species occurrence data proved to be a powerful strategy to generate information that is essential to species conservation and management plan. However, we are aware that the impact of digital and openly available data depends mostly on its completeness and accuracy, and thus we encourage action from the scientific community and government authorities to support and promote data mobilisation.

The collection of birds from Mozambique at the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical of the University of Lisbon (Portugal).

The Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical of the University of Lisbon, which resulted from the recent merger (in 2015) of the former state laboratory Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical in the University of Lisbon, holds an important collection of bird skins from the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde), gathered as a result of several scientific expeditions made during the colonial period. In this paper, the subset from Mozambique is described, which was taxonomically revised and georeferenced. It contains 1585 specimens belonging to 412 taxa, collected between 1932 and 1971, but mainly in 1948 (43% of specimens) and 1955 (30% of specimens). The collection covers all eleven provinces of the country, although areas south of the Zambezi River are better represented than those north of the river. The provinces with the highest number of specimens were Maputo, Sofala, and Gaza. Although it is a relatively small collection with a patchy coverage, it adds significantly to Global Biodiversity Information Facility, with 15% of all records available before and during the collecting period (1830-1971) being the second largest dataset for that period for Mozambique.

The collection of birds from São Tomé and Príncipe at the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical of the University of Lisbon (Portugal).

The former Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical-IICT (Lisbon, Portugal), recently integrated into the University of Lisbon, gathers important natural history collections from Portuguese-speaking African countries. In this study, we describe the bird collection from the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, which was fully taxonomically checked and georeferenced. The IICT bird collection contains 5598 specimens, of which 559 are from São Tomé and Príncipe, representing 85 taxa, including 19 endemic species and 13 endemic subspecies of birds. The specimens were collected between 1946 and 1973, although 43% of the records are from 1954 and 45% are from 1970. The geographic distribution of samples covers the whole territory, with a higher number of records from São Tomé than from Príncipe. The districts with highest number of records are Pagué (equivalent to Príncipe Island), and Água Grande and Mé-Zochi on São Tomé. Despite the relatively low number of specimens per taxon, the importance of the collection is considerable due to the high number of endemic and threatened species represented. Furthermore, it adds valuable information to the GBIF network, especially for a country whose two islands are each an Endemic Bird Area and for which substantial gaps in ornithological knowledge remain.

The collection and database of Birds of Angola hosted at IICT (Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical), Lisboa, Portugal.

The bird collection of the Instituto de Investigação Cientítica Tropical (Lisbon, Portugal) holds 5598 preserved specimens (skins), mainly from Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Principe, and Cape Verde. The subset collection from Angola includes 1560 specimens, which were taxonomically revised and georeferenced for the publication of this data paper. The collection contains a total of 522 taxa, including 161 species and 361 subspecies. Two species are classified by the IUCN Red List as Endangered - the wattled crane (Grus carunculata) and the Gabela bush-shrike (Laniarius amboimensis) - and two are classified as vulnerable - African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) and the white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis). The temporal span of the database ranges between 1943 and 1979, but 32% are from years 1958-1959, and 25% from years 1968-1969. The spatial coverage of the collection is uneven, with 2/3 of the records representing only four of the eighteen provinces of the country, namely Huíla, Moxico, Namibe and Cuanza Sul. It adds, however, valuable information for the Huíla area of the Angolan Scarp, which is probably a biodiversity hotspot of global conservation priority. Furthermore, this georeferenced database adds invaluable bird information to the GBIF network, for one of the countries with highest but less known biodiversity in Africa.