Gorongosa Research / Reports

The geology and climatic conditions in Gorongosa National Park (GNP) lead to an incredible diversity of landscapes and plant communities. The Park is also very biodiverse; nonetheless, other than the megafauna and a landscape-ecological study at the end of the 1960’s, the Park’s biodiversity was little studied prior to the implementation of the restoration project in 2005.  The Gorongosa Project (GP) now enables a growing number of researchers to work in the park. 

 

The Research Teams within the Science Department at Gorongosa work in the following areas, among others.

– Issuing Research Permits
– Constructing, staffing, managing and maintaining the scientific research center to ensure the health of the park’s ecosystems and provide scientific data to improve management within GNP and to regional conservation bodies.
– Capacity building of Mozambican researchers, managers, and technicians in ecological research and monitoring

Browse the scientific reports below that have come from work done in Gorongosa National Park.

The behavioural ecology of hominin locomotion: what can we learn from landscapes of fear and primate terrestriality?

Philippa Hammond, René Bobe, Susana Carvalho.

Forest cover on Gorongosa Mountain

Dr Marc Stalmans, Margarida Victor

Waterbird colony count at Lake Urema, April 2025

Rita Ramos

Aerial wildlife count of the Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, October 2024

Dr Marc Stalmans & Dr Mike Peel

Ecosystem-wide responses to fire and large mammal herbivores in an African savanna

Tara Joy Massad, Osvaldo Jacinto Abrão, Hermínio António, Acácio Chechene, Beto Soares C. Tenente, Arquimedes André, Diolinda Félix Mundoza1, Marc E. Stalmans, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Luís Junior Comissario Mandlate, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Piotr Naskrecki

Gorongosa Aerial Wildlife Count, 2022

Dr Marc Stalmans, Dr Mike Peel & Dominique Gonçalves

Trait-based sensitivity of large mammals to a catastrophic tropical cyclone

Reena H. Walker, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Justine A. Becker, Joshua H. Daskin, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Meredith S. Palmer, Dominique D. Gonçalves, Marc E. Stalmans, Jason Denlinger, Paola Bouley, Mercia Angela, Antonio Paulo, Arjun B. Potter, Nikhail Arumoogum, Francesca Parrini, Jason P. Marshal, Robert M. Pringle & Ryan A. Long

The first Miocene fossils from coastal woodlands in the southern East African RiftWaterbird colony count at Lake Urema, Gorongosa National Park, March 2021

René Bobe, Vera Aldeias, Zeresenay Alemseged, Robert L. Anemone, Will Archer, Georges Aumaître, Marion K. Bamford, Dora Biro, Didier L. Bourlès, Melissa Doyle Boyd, David R. Braun, Cristian Capelli, Joaō d’Oliveira Coelho, Jörg M. Habermann, Jason J. Head, Karim Keddadouche, Kornelius Kupczik, Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard, Tina Lüdecke, Amélia Macôa, Felipe I. Martínez, Jacinto Mathe, Clara Mendes, Luis Meira Paulo, Maria Pinto, Darya Presnyakova, Thomas A. Püschel, Frederico Tátá Regala, Mark Sier, Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva,
Marc Stalmans, and Susana Carvalho.

Waterbird colony count at Lake Urema, Gorongosa National Park, March 2021

Jason Denlinger

Ecological and behavioral mechanisms of density-dependent habitat expansion in a recovering African ungulate population

Justine A. Becker, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Arjun B. Potter, Shinkyu Park, Jennifer A. Guyton, Kyler Abernathy, Victor F. Americo, Anagledis Da Conceicao,  Tyler R. Kartzinel, Luca Kuziel, Naomi E. Leonard, Eli Lorenzi, Nuno C. Martins, Johan Pansu,  William L. Scott, Maria K. Stahl, Kai R. Torrens, Marc E. Stalmans, Ryan A. Long, and Robert M. Pringle.

Gorongosa Aerial Wildlife Count, 2020

Dr Marc Stalmans and Dr Mike Peel

Pyric herbivory: Understanding fire-herbivore interactions in Gorongosa National Park

Maria K. Stahl

Forest cover on Gorongosa Mountain – Assessment of satellite imagery 2019 – May 2020

Dr Marc Stalmans, Margarida Victor

Postwar wildlife recovery in an African savanna: evaluating patterns and drivers of species occupancy and richness.

K. M. Gaynor, J. H. Daskin, L. N. Rich, J. S. Brashares

First collection of the asexual state of Trichaleurina javanicafrom nature and the placement of Kumanasamuha

Iturriaga T, Raudabaugh DB, Karakehian JM, Miller AN, Hodge KT and Pfister DH

Movements of White-headed and White-backed Vultures. Unpublished thesis – Master of Science in Raptor Biology, Boise State University, USA.

Scott T. 2020.

Primate adaptations and evolution in the Southern African Rift Valley.

Bobe R., Martínez F.I. & Carvalho S. 2020.  Evolutionary Antropology. 1–8. DOI: 10.1002/evan.21826

A Healthy Park Needs Healthy Vegetation: The Story of Gorongosa National Park in the 21st Century

Hannah Herrero, Peter Waylen, Jane Southworth, Reza Khatami, Di Yang, Brian Child

New data on dragonflies (Odonata) of Mozambique, with a new country record of Phyllogomphus selysi Schouteden, 1933

Bernard R. & Bakowski M. 2020.

Trophic rewilding revives biotic resistance to shrub invasion

Jennifer A. Guyton, Johan Pansu, Matthew C. Hutchinson, Tyler R. Kartzinel, Arjun B. Potter, Tyler C. Coverdale, Joshua H. Daskin, Ana Gledis da Conceição, Mike J. S. Peel, Marc E. Stalmans & Robert M. Pringle

Waterbird colony count at Lake Urema, March and April 2019

Jason Denlinger, Dr. Marc Stalmans, Dr. Tara Massad.

Determinants of elephant foraging behaviour in a coupled human-natural system: Is brown the new green?

Paola S. Branco, Jerod A. Merkle, Robert M. Pringle, Johan Pansu, Arjun B. Potter, Alana Reynolds, Marc Stalmans, Ryan A. Long.

War-induced collapse and asymmetric recovery of large mammal populations in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Stalmans ME, Massad TJ, Peel MJS, Tarnita CE, Pringle RM. 2019.

Cascading impacts of large-carnivore extirpation in an African ecosystem.

Atkins J.L., Long R.A., Pansu J., Daskin J.H., Potter A.B., Stalmans M.E., Tarnita C.E. & Pringle R.M. 2019.

Opportunities for biodiversity conservation outside of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique: A multispecies approach.

Easter T., Bouley P. & Carter N. 2019. 

First confirmed record of Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli from the Gorongosa National Park, central Mozambique.War-induced collapse and asymmetric recovery of large mammal populations in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Botha A. & Román J.R.  2018. 

Cascad Taxonomic review of the tribe Sisyphini sensu stricto Mulsant, 1842 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in southern Africa, including new species descriptions. Insect Systematics & Evolution (2018)

Daniel Gimo M., Davis Adrian LV., Sole Catherine L. & Scholtz Clarke H. 2018 

Effects of human settlement and roads on diel activity patterns of elephants (Loxodonta africana).

Gaynor K.M., Branco  P.S., Long R.A. , Gonçalves D.D., Granli P.K. & Poole J.H. 2018. 

Gorongosa by the sea – First Miocene fossil sites from the Urema Rift, central Mozambique, and their coastal paleoenvironmental and paleoecological contexts 

Jörg M. Habermann, Matthias Alberti, Vera Aldeias, Zeresenay Alemseged, Will Archer, Marion Bamford, Dora Biro, David R. Braun, Cristian Capelli, Eugénia Cunha, Maria Ferreira da Silva, Tina Lüdecke, Hilário Madiquida, Felipe I. Martinez, Jacinto Mathe, Enquye Negash, Luis M.Paulo, Maria Pinto, Marc Stalmans, Frederico Tátá Regala, Jonathan G. Wynn, René Bobe & Susana Carvalho.

An experimental test of community-based strategies for mitigating human–wildlife conflict around protected areas

Paola S. Branco, Jerod A. Merkle, Robert M. Pringle, Lucy King, Tosca Tindall, Marc Stalmans, Ryan A. Long.

Katydids of Gorongosa National Park and Central Mozambique

Piotr Naskrecki, Ricardo Guta.

 

A missing piece of the Papio puzzle: Gorongosa baboon phenostructure and intrageneric relationships

Felipe I. Martinez, Cristian Capelli, Maria J. Ferreira da Silva,Vera Aldeias,
Zeresenay Alemseged, William Archer, Marion Bamford, Dora Biro, Rene Bobe, David R. Braun, Jorg M. Habermann, Tina Lüdecke, Hilario Madiquida, Jacinto Mathe, Enquye Negash, Luis M. Paulo, Maria Pinto, Marc Stalmans, Frederico Tata, Susana Carvalho.

Cola species of the limestone forests of Africa, with a new, endangered species, Cola cheringoma (Sterculiaceae), from Cheringoma, Mozambique

Martin Cheek , Quentin Luke, Hermenegildo Matimele, Aurélio Banze & Poppy Lawrence

 

The Elephants of Gorongosa: an Integrated Approach to Conservation and Conflict Mitigation in the Shadow of the War  

Paola Branco

Trophic ecology of large herbivores in a reassembling African ecosystem

Johan Pansu. Jennifer A. Guyton, Arjun B. Potter, Justine L. Atkins, Joshua H. Daskin, Bart Wursten, Tyler R. Kartzinel, Robert M. Pringle

 

Gorongosa Aerial Wildlife Count 2018

Dr Marc Stalmans , Dr Mike Peel & Dominique Gonçalves

Post-war recovery of the African lion in response to large-scale ecosystem restoration

Paola Bouley, Michael Poulos, Rui Branco, Neil H. Carter

 

 

Integrative taxonomy resolves three new cryptic species of small southern African horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus)

Peter J Taylor, Angus Macdonald, Steven M Goodman, Teresa Kearney Fenton, P D Cotterill, Sam Stoffberg, Ara Monadjem, M Corrie Schoeman, Jennifer Guyton, Piotr Naskreck,i Leigh R Richards.

 

A new endemic Impatiens species on Mount Gorongosa (Mozambique) demonstrates the conservation importance of montane areas in Africa.

Janssens S.B., Ballings P., Mertens A. & Dessein S. 2018

Multilayer networks reveal the spatial structure of seed-dispersal interactions across the Great Rift landscapes.

Timóteo S., Correia M., Rodríguez-Echeverría S., Freitas H. &  Heleno R. 2018.

 

 

New insights from Gorongosa National Park and Niassa National Reserve of Mozambique increasing the genetic diversity of Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma vivax-like in tsetse flies, wild ungulates and livestock from East Africa.

Carla MF Rodrigues, Herakles A Garcia, Adriana C Rodrigues, André G Costa-Martins, Carlos L Pereira, Dagmar L Pereira, Zakaria Bengaly, Luis Neves, Erney P Camargo, Patrick B Hamilton and Marta MG Teixeira. 2017

 

Remarkable richness of trypanosomes in tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans morsitans and Glossina pallidipes) from the Gorongosa National Park and Niassa National Reserve of Mozambique revealed by fluorescent fragment length barcoding (FFLB).s the conservation importance of montane areas in Africa.

Garcia HA, Rodrigues CMF, Rodrigues AC, Pereira DL, Pereira CL, Camargo EP, Hamilton PB, Teixeira MMG. 2017.

Upgrading protected areas to conserve wild biodiversity – Nature 2017

Robert M. Pringle

A new Pedaria Laporte de Castelnau, 1832, from Gorongosa National Park

François Génier

 

 

Description of a new flat gecko

William R. Branch, Jennifer A. Guyton, Andreas Schmitz, Michael F. Bare, Piotr Naskrecki, Harith Farooq, Luke Verburg t& Mark Oliver Rodel

 

Using repeat photography to observe vegetation change over time in Gorongosa National Park

Hannah V Herrero, Jane Southworth, Erin Bunting, Brian Child

 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities from tropical Africa reveal strong ecological structure. New Phytologist

Rodríguez-Echeverría Susana, Teixeira Helena, Correia Marta, Timóteo Sérgio, Ruben Heleno, Maarja Öpik and Moora Mari. 2016.

 

 

An Excursion to Collect Tropical Fungi in Gorongosa National Park

Jason Karakehian

 

Potamonautes gorongosa, a new species of potamonautid freshwater crab (Decapoda, Brachyura) from Mozambique, southeastern Africa. Nauplius

Cumberlidge N., Naskrecki P. and Daniels S.R. 2016

Aerial Survey 2016

Dr. Marc Stalmans and Dr. Mike Peel

 

 

Macrobiotus naskreckii sp. nov., a new tardigrade (Eutardigrada: Macrobiotidae) of the hufelandi group from Mozambique.

Bakowski Marek, Roszkowska Milena, Gawlak Magdalena and Kaczmarek Lukasz. 2016.

 

Combined electrical resistivity tomography and magnetic resonance sounding investigation of the surface-water/groundwater interaction in the Urema Graben, Mozambique.

Chirindja F.J., Dahlin T., Perttu N., Steinbruch F. & Owen R. 2016.

Identification of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria from three African leguminous trees in Gorongosa National Park, Syst. Appl. Microbiol.

Teixeira Helena & Rodríguez-Echeverría S. 2016.

 

 

The refaunation and the re-instatement of the seed-dispersal function in Goorngosa National Park. Conservation Biology

Correia Marta, Timóteo S., Rodriguez-Echeverria S., Mazars-Simon A. & Heleno R. 2016.

 

Investigating possible effects of climate change on tree recruitment: responses of abundant species to water stress in Gorongosa National Park. South African Journal of Botany

Massad Tara Joy & Castigo Tongai. 2016.

Late Quaternary vegetation development and disturbance dynamics from a peatland on Mount Gorongosa, central Mozambique.

David B. McWethy, Frank H. Neumann, Franziska Steinbruch, Casey M. Ryan & Verushka Valsecchi. 2016.

 

 

Ecological legacies of civil war: 35-year increase in savanna tree cover following wholesale large-mammal declines. Journal of Ecology

Daskin J.H., Stalmans M. & Pringle R.M. 2015.

 

African Bats: Conservation in the time of Ebola.

Guyton, J.A. and C.E. Brook. 2015.

A major waterbird breeding colony at Lake Urema, Gorongosa Nacional Park, Moçambique.

Stalmans M., Davies G.B.P., Trollip J. & Poole G. 2015.

 

 

Cryptic diversity in forest shrews of the genus Myosorex from southern Africa, with the description of a new species and comments on Myosorex tenuis

Peter John Taylor, Teresa Catherine Kearney, Julian C. Kerbis Peterhans, Roderick M. Baxter and Sandi Willows-Munro

 

Monitoring the recovery of wildlife in the Parque Nacional da Gorongosa through aerial surveys – 2002 – 2012 – A preliminary analysis. 

Dr. Marc Stalmans

 

Mangrove kingfishers (Halcyon senegaloides; Aves: Alcedinidae) nesting in arboreal Nasutitermes (Isoptera: Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae) termitaria in central Mozambique

Davies, G.B.P., Symes C.T., Chittenden H.N., Peek J.R.

Illegal Hunting and the Bushmeat Trade in Central Mozambique: A Case Study from Coutada 9

Lindsey, P., Bento, C.

Mozambique Paleontology Reconnaissance – November 2012

Pickford, M.