Development
of an evolutionarily-informed conservation prioritization scheme for central
Africa
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(Gabriel Fiorini, Christie Sukhdeo)
Beginning in 2013, the Anthony research group will be participating in a major international collaborative research and education initiative funded through the NSF Partnerships in International Research and Education (PIRE) program. The overarching goal of this PIRE project is to develop an integrated framework for conserving the adaptive evolutionary potential of central African biodiversity under climate change. Central African rainforests contain some of the most important centers of tropical diversity in the world. While efforts have been made to protect key parks and reserves, habitat degradation continues at an alarming rate severely limiting species’ abilities to move in response to climate change. |
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Using a suite of multi-disciplinary approaches PIRE project partners plan to: 1) map environmentally-associated genomic and phenotypic variation in nine focal taxa and use this information to identify areas of elevated evolutionary potential; 2) assess how these areas overlap with hotspots of species richness and existing protected areas; 3) evaluate the relative importance of evolutionary adaptation, phenotypic plasticity and landscape connectivity in mitigating the impacts of both climate change and development; 4) develop an integrated prioritization scheme that ranks candidate areas for protection based on both evolutionary and socio-economic criteria.
Planned educational activities will promote scientific collaboration and exchange between project partners through: 1) cutting-edge training to U.S. and African students in the biological, environmental and social sciences; 2) professional development workshops for early career scientists and advanced graduate students; 3) region-wide research symposia and scientific exchange; 4) bilingual distance-learning programs and 5) outreach to decision makers through policy workshops. These joint research and educational efforts build on substantive past efforts to promote international collaboration in evolutionary biology and conservation in central Africa (Anthony et al., 2012) and will reinforce collaborative exchange as well as inform meaningful conservation efforts in the region. The PIRE program is being headed by Tom Smith (University of California Los Angeles) in collaboration with two co-PIs Anthony (UNO) and Katy Gonder (SUNY-Albany) and the cooperation of a network of central African and European universities, non-governmental organizations and other partner agencies operating in the region.
Anthony N.M., Mickala P., Abernethy K.A., Atteke C., Bissiengou P., Bruford M.W., Dallmeier F., Decaens T., Dudu A., Freedman A., Gonder M.K., Hardy O., Hart J., Jeffery K., Johnson M., Koumba Pambo F., Ley A., Korte L., Lahm S.A., Lee M., Lowenstein J., Mboumba J.-F., Ndiade Bourobou D., Ngomanda A., Ntie S., Sebag D., Sullivan J., Vanthomme H., Vergnes V. and Zimkus B. (2012) Biodiversity and conservation genetics research in central Africa: new approaches and avenues for international collaboration. Conservation Genetics Resources 4: 523-525.
Planned educational activities will promote scientific collaboration and exchange between project partners through: 1) cutting-edge training to U.S. and African students in the biological, environmental and social sciences; 2) professional development workshops for early career scientists and advanced graduate students; 3) region-wide research symposia and scientific exchange; 4) bilingual distance-learning programs and 5) outreach to decision makers through policy workshops. These joint research and educational efforts build on substantive past efforts to promote international collaboration in evolutionary biology and conservation in central Africa (Anthony et al., 2012) and will reinforce collaborative exchange as well as inform meaningful conservation efforts in the region. The PIRE program is being headed by Tom Smith (University of California Los Angeles) in collaboration with two co-PIs Anthony (UNO) and Katy Gonder (SUNY-Albany) and the cooperation of a network of central African and European universities, non-governmental organizations and other partner agencies operating in the region.
Anthony N.M., Mickala P., Abernethy K.A., Atteke C., Bissiengou P., Bruford M.W., Dallmeier F., Decaens T., Dudu A., Freedman A., Gonder M.K., Hardy O., Hart J., Jeffery K., Johnson M., Koumba Pambo F., Ley A., Korte L., Lahm S.A., Lee M., Lowenstein J., Mboumba J.-F., Ndiade Bourobou D., Ngomanda A., Ntie S., Sebag D., Sullivan J., Vanthomme H., Vergnes V. and Zimkus B. (2012) Biodiversity and conservation genetics research in central Africa: new approaches and avenues for international collaboration. Conservation Genetics Resources 4: 523-525.
