Aims of the Project
| Inselbergs are rocky
outcrops consisting of granites and gneisses that are millions of
years old, on which organic substrates are generally very poorly
developed. A good example of an inselberg is the famous landmark
"Sugarloaf Mountain" in Rio de Janeiro. Inselbergs can be regarded
both microclimatically and edaphically as arid islands that support
a quite different type of vegetation to the surrounding landscape.
Although they have been extensively studied in respect of their
geomorphology, biological aspects have so far received little
attention. The principal aims of the inselberg project can be
summarised as follows:
|
- Assessment of the environmental conditions
- Floristic inventory and comparative phytogeographical studies
- Analysis of plant adaptive strategies
- Examination of patterns of diversity
- Analysis of dynamic processes (e.g. rates of local extinction,
random immigration, species turnover)
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| The inselberg project
is concerned with themes that are at the heart of biodiversity
research, such as the relative importance of deterministic and
stochastic processes for the composition and diversity of
vegetation. Being isolated habitat fragments, it is possible to use
inselbergs as models to investigate the complex relationships that
exist between population size, degree of isolation and rates of
extinction.
|
| Studies of inselbergs
were carried out partly by ourselves and partly in co-operation with
colleagues in Africa (especially in the Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe,
but also in Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Malawi, Rwanda,
Zaire), on Madagascar, the Seychelles, in South America (mainly in
Brazil and Venezuela, but also in Bolivia, French Guiana, Guiana),
as well as in Australia and North America (Georgia). |
Prof. Dr. Wilhelm
Barthlott (Universität Bonn)
Dr. Steven Hopper (Kings Park and
Botanic Garden, Perth)
Prof. Dr. Jean Lejoly (Université Libre,
Brüssel)
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Morawetz (Universität Leipzig)
Dr.
Margareth Sales (Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco)
Dr.
Brice Sinsin (Université National du Bénin, Cotonou)
Prof. Dr.
Robert Wyatt (University of Georgia, Athens)
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Acknowledgements
| The inselberg project received financial support from
the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the DAAD and the
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. |
|
