Kilimanjaro and Meru mountains in Tanzania and Mount Kenya are reportedly turning into ecological Islands, according to scientists. “The East Africa’s mountains are a treasure trove of biodiversity...however, their ecosystems may be at a higher risk than previously realised,” reports Dr Andreas Hemp and Dr Claudia Hemp, adding Mount Kilimanjaro is turning into a green protrusion from a mostly brown background. The researchers claim that agriculture, irresponsible logging and human settlement establishment have eliminated the natural vegetation that used to serve as a bridge to the surrounding area, enabling the diversity of species to develop to its current levels. The mountain’s neighbouring regions are presumably being isolated from their surrounding areas. The researchers have published their study in the Global Change Biology journal. The 5,890-metre Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, located less than 100 kilometres from Mount Meru, 4600 metres. Satellite images have shown how the strips of land between them have changed in 25 years, leading to the turn of the century. According to the scientists, areas that originally had dense vegetation have now been transformed into intensive agricultural land and human settlements, leaving the mountain almost completely surrounded by large areas characterised by encroachment of human civilisation.
Biologists from the Universityof Bayreuth and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt (BiK-F) also studied the environments of grasshoppers at 500 selected sites on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru to find out if there were biological effects caused by human encroachment on the mountains. They concluded that the species have moved from their previous low ranges ascending slightly higher onto the mountains, indicating that the environment at the base of Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro were no longer conducive for the insects. “Several thousand years ago, it was considerably cooler and damper in the lower areas than it is today. Thus, grasshoppers that preferred these climatic conditions settled at the foot of the mountains, travelling by foot via the wooded land route. It was only later, as the temperatures rose and precipitation diminished that they made their way to higher areas” Dr Hemp explained. In another development, Kenya has launched efforts to protect Mount Kenya, the country’s main source of fresh water, after human activities started to gnaw its base. Donations from events and activities that kicked off this March are channeled into Mount Kenya Trust, which supports the project to protect and conserve the mountain. “Even though Mount Kenya is one of the five major water catchment areas in the country, it faces serious threats. They include wildlife poaching, illegal logging and encroachment,” said the Mount Kenya Trust Executive Director Susie Weeks
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