An endangered West African rattan palm: Eremospatha dransfieldii

Eremospatha dransfieldii is a robust rattan palm, climbing up to 40 m in length. It is only known to occur in the south-western region of Ghana, south-eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire and in Sierra Leone. The species' Area of Occupancy (AOO) is restricted to just 40 km². This species is confined to moist-evergreen forests with high rainfall. It is known to be facing habitat loss and over-harvesting of its stems. We assess Eremospatha dransfieldii as Endangered based on criteron B2ab(iii), according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (ver 3.1)

An endangered West African rattan palm: Eremospatha dransfieldii

Eremospatha dransfieldii is a robust rattan palm, climbing up to 40 m in length. It is only known to occur in the south-western region of Ghana, south-eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire and in Sierra Leone. The species' Area of Occupancy (AOO) is restricted to just 40 km². This species is confined to moist-evergreen forests with high rainfall. It is known to be facing habitat loss and over-harvesting of its stems. We assess Eremospatha dransfieldii as Endangered based on criteron B2ab(iii), according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (ver 3.1)

Low extinction risk for an important plant resource: Conservation assessments of continental African palms (Arecaceae/Palmae)

International audienceAlthough the palm flora of continental Africa totals just 66 species, they are amongst the most useful plants across the continent, providing many important resources for human populations. Studies have shown that African palms will likely be negatively affected by global change, leading to increased threats to their survival. Here we conduct the first full global conservation assessment for 61 continental African palm species following IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Our study revealed that fewer than 10% of the evaluated species were assessed as Threatened. Within the Threatened category, one species was assessed as Critically Endangered, three as Endangered and two as Vulnerable. These results underline an overall low extinction risk for African palms in the immediate future, which is substantially lower than the global estimate of 21% for all plants. These results could be linked to the generally large distribution patterns of African palm species, the broad ecological amplitudes of most species and their good representation inside the African protected areas network. However, a non-negligible number of species (~15%) lack sufficient data to be properly assessed. This highlights the importance of further studies to improve our basic understanding of their distribution and threats. Our study provides a rather optimistic view of this highly important African plant resource yet, some widespread species are becoming locally rare due to over-harvesting for human use. At a local level, palm resources are generally non-sustainably exploited, which, coupled with climate change, could lead to a rapid increase in threat status over time

Parasite-mediated protection against osmotic stress for Paramecium caudatum infected by Holospora undulata is host genotype specific

International audienceUnder certain conditions, otherwise parasitic organisms may become beneficial to their host. Parasite-mediated heat and osmotic stress resistance have been demonstrated for Paramecium caudatum, infected by several species of parasitic bacteria of the genus Holospora. Here, using the micronucleus-specific bacterium Holospora undulata, we investigate how infection mediates the response of two genotypes (clones 'K8' and 'VEN') of P. caudatum to heat (35 1C) and osmotic (0.24% NaCl) stress. In contrast to previous findings, we find no evidence for heat stress protection in infected individuals. We do, however, show an effect of symbiont-mediated osmotic stress resistance for the K8 clone, with infected individuals having higher survival than their uninfected counterparts up to 24 h after the onset of salt exposure. Despite this, both infected and uninfected individuals of the VEN clone showed higher survival rates than clone K8 individuals under osmotic stress. Thus, it would seem that parasite-mediated stress protection is restricted to certain combinations of host genotypes and types of stress and does not represent a general phenomenon in this system

Agricultural innovation and environmental change on the floodplains of the Congo River

International audienceClimate-driven environmental changes bring new risks but also opportunities to populations living along the world's major rivers. Based on ethnoecological fieldwork , in this paper we examine how people living in the cuvette centrale of the Congo basin have adopted flood-recession agriculture on islands in the Congo River, taking advantage of a secular shift since the 1980s in the hydrological regime of the Congo River. Analyses of the hydrological data reveal that this shift decreased flood risk and significantly extended the growing season on the islands, long enough to enable cultivation of fast-maturing varieties of manioc and other crops. Flood-recession farming on islands in the river is today not only an important source of food, but also a source of income for women, who are primarily responsible for seasonal cultivation of fields during the low-water season. Hydrological changes alone are insufficient to explain the adoption of the new agricultural practice; adoption also arose as a result of dynamic interactions among river fishing, trading, and broader socioeconomic forces. Climate-change models project an increased frequency of extreme floods. Our results suggest that this change may limit island cultivation in the future. More generally, our findings point to the importance of looking beyond single-factor, solely environmental explanations in studies of climate-change adaptatio

Use and Cultural Significance of Raphia Palms

International audienceThe genus Raphia (Palmae / Arecaceae) contains 22 species and represents a major multiuse resource across tropical Africa and Madagascar. Raphia species provide goods that range from food to construction material and medicine. Its species play a vital cultural role in African societies. Despite its importance, the taxonomy, ecology, and ethnobotany of this genus remain poorly understood. Here, we review the multiplicity of uses, products and cultural importance of Raphia species across its distribution. We provide a near exhaustive list of all products derived from Raphia species, classified by species and major use categories. We record nearly 100 different uses, traded and commercialized at local, regional, and national levels. Most species have several uses. Raphia wine is the most important product, followed by grubs and fiber extraction. Our review improves our understanding of the uses and cultural importance of Raphia species. If Raphia resources are managed responsibly, they will contribute to alleviate poverty, fight against hunger and conserve tropical biodiversity, especially in Africa.Le genre Raphia (Palmae / Arecaceae) comprend 22 espèces et représente une ressource multi-usage majeure en Afrique tropicale et Madagascar. Les espèces de Raphia fournissent des produits allant des aliments aux matériaux de construction, en passant par les médicaments. Ses espèces jouent un rôle culturel vital dans les sociétés africaines. Malgré son importance, la taxonomie, l’écologie et l’ethnobotanique de ce genre restent mal comprises. Nous examinons ici la multiplicité des usages des produits et de l’importance culturelle des espèces de Raphia dans toute leur distribution. Nous fournissons une liste presque exhaustive de tous les produits dérivés des espèces de Raphia, classés par espèce et par principales catégories d’utilization. Nous enregistrons près de 100 utilisations différentes, commercialisées au niveau local, régional et national. La plupart des espèces ont plusieurs utilisations. Le vin de Raphia est le produit le plus important, suivi de l’extraction des vers et de la fibre. Notre revue améliore la compréhension des utilisations et de l’importance culturelle des espèces de Raphia. Si les ressources de Raphia sont gérées de manière responsable, elles contribueront à réduire la pauvreté, à lutter contre la faim et à préserver la biodiversité tropicale, en particulier en Afrique

Defining the Anthropocene tropical forest : Moving beyond ‘disturbance’ and ‘landscape domestication’ with concepts from African worldviews

How natural and cultural forces shaping tropical forested landscapes are conceptualized is of vital importance to Anthropocene debates. We examine two concepts: disturbance and landscape domestication. From the perspective of disturbance, humans —whether ancient or modern— are a priori negative for tropical forests, outside of and alien to nature. From this view, the Anthropocene is a planetary scale aggregation of disturbance. A more just vision of tropical forests, accepting anthropogenic influence on biodiversity, would combine ‘disturbance’ with other concepts that capture human agency and intentionality. Landscape domestication proposes that humans can shape ecology and plant and animal population demographics, making the landscape more productive and congenial for humans, upgrading or degrading the biodiversity of tropical forests. Herein, forest peoples shape the Anthropocene itself through their ‘domestication’ of the forest. Yet this approach can overdetermine culture, ignoring non-human agency, whilst human impacts can be seen as the outcome of intentional modifications to increase landscape productivity, at worst a disavowed projection of ‘economic man’. Using the convivial scholarship of Nyamnjoh, we argue that these ideas give incomplete views of tropical forests in the Anthropocene and can be enriched by concepts derived from African worldviews with ‘relationality’ and ‘wholeness’ at their core. These are expressed in ohanife, deriving from Igbo language, ubuntu, from the Nguni language and ukama, a notion from Shona culture. Together these concepts evince an ‘eco-bio-communitarianism’ embracing humans, God, spirits, ancestors, animals, and inanimate beings in a ‘community of beings’ irreducible to the culture-nature divide (moving beyond disturbance) and allowing for the agency and personhood of non-humans (moving beyond historical ecology). This is consonant with Indigenous Amazonian worldviews, such as that of Kopenawa. Approaching human-nature relations from Nyamnjoh’s idea of conviviality, we elaborate a less incomplete and more just perspective on the cultural and natural shaping of Anthropocene tropical forests

Defining the Anthropocene tropical forest : Moving beyond ‘disturbance’ and ‘landscape domestication’ with concepts from African worldviews

How natural and cultural forces shaping tropical forested landscapes are conceptualised is of vital importance to Anthropocene debates. We examine two concepts: disturbance and landscape domestication. From the perspective of disturbance, humans – whether ancient or modern – are a priori negative for tropical forests, outside of and alien to nature. From this view, the Anthropocene is a planetary scale aggregation of disturbance. A more just vision of tropical forests, accepting anthropogenic influence on biodiversity, would combine ‘disturbance’ with other concepts that capture human agency and intentionality. Landscape domestication proposes that humans can shape ecology and plant and animal population demographics, making the landscape more productive and congenial for humans, upgrading or degrading the biodiversity of tropical forests. Herein, forest peoples shape the Anthropocene itself through their ‘domestication’ of the forest. Yet this approach can overdetermine culture, ignoring non-human agency, whilst human impacts can be seen as the outcome of intentional modifications to increase landscape productivity, at worst a disavowed projection of ‘economic man’. Using the convivial scholarship framework of Nyamnjoh, we argue that these ideas give incomplete views of tropical forests in the Anthropocene and can be enriched by concepts derived from African worldviews with ‘relationality’ and ‘wholeness’ at their core. These are expressed in ohanife, deriving from Igbo language, ubuntu, from the Nguni language and ukama, a notion from Shona culture. Together these concepts evince an ‘eco-bio-communitarianism’ embracing humans, God, spirits, ancestors, animals and inanimate beings in a ‘community of beings’ irreducible to the culture-nature divide (moving beyond disturbance) and allowing for the agency and personhood of non-humans (moving beyond historical ecology). This is consonant with Indigenous Amazonian worldviews, such as that of Kopenawa. Approaching human-nature relations from Nyamnjoh’s idea of conviviality, we elaborate a less incomplete and more just perspective on the cultural and natural shaping of Anthropocene tropical forests.Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)Non UBCCommunity, Culture and Global Studies, Department of (Okanagan)ReviewedFacultyResearcherGraduat

ConR: An R package to assist large-scale multispecies preliminary conservation assessments using distribution data

International audienc