Open Access

Nuno Oliveira, Jailson Oliveira, Tommy Melo, José Melo, Pedro Luís Geraldes

• Santa Luzia (18º52´, 18º60´N; 24º41´, 24º48´W) is the smallest island (35 km2) in the Cape Verde archipelago1. Although uninhabited today, two families of goatherds lived on Santa Luzia until the mid-1960s. In 1990, together with the nearby islets of Branco and Raso, Santa Luzia was designated a Nature Reserve by law. The island is extremely arid and barren, with hills, stony plains and sand-dunes being the main features. The highest elevation reaches 395 m a.s.l. The vegetation is characterized by a single floristic zone (Duarte et al. 2008), dominated by drought resistant species such as Cistance phelipaea, Polycarpaea nivea, Zygophyllum simplex, Heliotropium ramisissimum, Frankenia ericifolia and Euphorbia tuckeyana (Schleich & Wuttke 1983, Dinis & Matos 1994, Sánchez Pinto et al. 2005). The northern shoreline of the island is characterized by steep cliffs, 10-30 m in height. The remaining shore consists of sandy beaches in the southern part and rocky beaches along the western, north-eastern and eastern coast of the island (Dinis & Matos 1994).