Worldwide destruction of inselbergs and related rock outcrops threatens a unique ecosystem

Excerpt

In many parts of the world rock outcrops form important landscape elements that play a role in generating and maintaining biodiversity in addition to providing key ecosystem services. These rock outcrops rise abruptly from the surrounding landscape, have a patchy distribution, and represent centers of diversity and endemism for both animal and plant life (Hopper and Withers 1997). Known as ‘inselbergs’ and often composed of Precambrian granitoids, these outcrops occur across all continents. Inselbergs are particularly noteworthy in ancient biodiversity hotspots, e.g., the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Guinean Forests of West Africa, Madagascar, the Greater Cape and Southwest Australian Floristic regions (Hopper et al. 2016). The ecological and evolutionary processes that operate in these ancient environments differ significantly from comparatively more recent environments (Hopper 2009). Their conservation is of global importance, in great part because they support unique, endemic biota of recent and deep phylogenetic history. …