What is this?

A listing of Namibian mountains, in order of biodiversity potential.

In the absence of comprehensive biodiversity information, known biogeographical principles can be used to infer mountain biodiversity potential from mountain topography. Four main factors were considered here:

Altitude. The absolute height above sea level of a mountain gives an indication of its potential to be a climatic refugium for relict species.
Elevation. Lesser altitude mountains that nevertheless are very high relative to theor immediate surroundings may function as refugia on a local scale. too.
Surface area at height. The larger surface area a mountain has at high altitude or elevation, the greater habitat diversity, and therefore biodiversity, it is likely to have. The less fragmented this area is, the better.
Isolation. A high mountain that is located very far from similarly high mountains, is more likely to host endemic species than one of a cluster of adjacent high mountains.

These factors were determined for each peak in Namibia that had either an altitude of more than 1900m above sea level, or a relative elevation of more than 500m, or both. The 486 qualifying peaks were clustered into 39 mountain groups, and importance values for each factor were calculated for each group. Information on individual groups appear in the Mountain List.

A separate listing was prepared for mountains in the Namib Desert. Being close to sea level, most Desert Mountains are of low altitude and elevation, and therefore do not feature in the national mountain list. Giving them their own listing acknowledges the special nature of the Namib Desert environment.

Acknowledgements
The original priority listings are from:
    IRISH, J. 2002. Namibian Mountains: biodiversity potential based on topography. Unpublished report to the Mountain Working Group of the National Biodiversity Task Force. pp. 42.
[DOWNLOADABLE LINK TO FULL REPORT TO BE ADDED HERE]
Geological data from:
    MILLER, R. McG. 2002. Simplified geological descriptions of Namibia's mountains. Unpublished report to the Mountain Working Group of the National Biodiversity Task Force. pp. 12.
[DOWNLOADABLE LINK TO FULL REPORT TO BE ADDED HERE, PENDING PERMISSION BY R. MILLER]
Additional information on this web site provided by:
    INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS TO BE LISTED, WITH THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
Maps, DEM visualisations, web site layout and HTML realisation by John Irish.
Photographs credited individually.

Page last modified: 11 September, 2003