Guinean Rainforest Research Articles

A new giant species of Arthroleptis (Amphibia: Anura: Arthroleptidae) from the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve, south-western Ghana

We describe a new giant species of Arthroleptis from the eastern part of the Upper Guinean rain forest, West Africa. This species from the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve, south-western Ghana is the largest member of the genus from West Africa. It differs from all known West African Arthroleptis by its large size, its peculiar coloration and a number of morphological characters, such as e.g. an extremely broad head. Arthroleptis krokosua sp. nov. is most similar to large members of the genus from East and Central Africa, particularly A. variabilis and A. adolfifriederici from which it differs in lateral and ventral colouration patterns, larger size (> 43 mm), as well as head shape (heads width / snout-vent length: 0.45; 0.40 in A. variabilis and A. adolfifriederici). Genetic divergence in 550 bp of 16S rRNA was 4.97–5.14 % between the new species and A. variabilis. The new species seems to have no apparent affiliations to any other West African member of the genus. All other West African Arthroleptis are much smaller in size and differ in body shape.

Morphometric differentiation between two murid rodents, Praomys tullbergi (Thomas, 1894) and Praomys rostratus (Miller, 1900), in West Africa

Morphometric differentiation between the two species of the genus Praomys Thomas (1915) inhabiting West Africa was investigated using univariate and multivariate statistics on external, cranial and dental measurements. One hundred and seventy six adult specimens (78 P. tullbergi and 98 P. rostratus) from fifteen localities throughout the Upper Guinean rainforest were analyzed. All specimens had been previously identified to species level by molecular analyses (16S rRNA and/or cytochrome b gene sequencing). Sexual dimorphism was observed in both species, but was more significant in P. rostratus than in P. tullbergi. Body weight was significantly lower in P. tullbergi than in P. rostratus. Moreover, males of P. tullbergi had a significantly smaller head and body length than males of P. rostratus. Specimens of P. tullbergi of both sexes were on average smaller than males of P. rostratus regarding all cranial and dental measurements, and smaller than females of P. rostratus with regard to most measurements. However, none of the cranial or dental measurements treated in our study could be used alone to separate P. rostratus and P. tullbergi, because of considerable overlap in the ranges of each variable. A good discrimination between the two species was obtained by means of craniometrical multivariate statistics, several rostrum measurements being significantly lower in P. tullbergi than in P. rostratus. Discrepancies between our results and former published studies are hypothesized to be due to differences between the variables used and/or the geographical areas covered.

Effect of Deforestation on a Southwest Ghana Dung Beetle Assemblage (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) at the Periphery of Ankasa Conservation Area

During June 2003, an exploratory dung beetle survey (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) was conducted in southwest Ghana at the southern edge of Ankasa Conservation Area, which is a 500-km2 conserved region of the threatened Eastern Upper Guinean rainforest. The survey provided a quantitative assessment of peripheral deforestation effects and an inventory for species on omnivore dung. Pitfall traps baited with pig dung were placed in both selectively logged and unlogged rainforest as well as in nearby oil palm and cacao plantations. The Ankasa forest inventory was mostly comprised of species previously trapped by human dung in the Western Upper Guinean rainforest of Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. However, there was relatively low species abundance similarity between the June/July assemblages on omnivore dung in Taï and Ankasa rainforests, and even lower similarity between assemblages of Ankasa and the adjacent plantations. Of 29 species recorded in Ankasa forest, most were absent or rare in plantations where assemblages were numerically dominated by species previously recorded from the West African savannas. This replacement plantation fauna showed significantly lower species richness and diversity, but significantly higher abundance, compared with Ankasa forest assemblages. The results reiterate that forest reserves are essential for the conservation of specialist rainforest dung beetle species.

Effect of Deforestation on a Southwest Ghana Dung Beetle Assemblage (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) at the Periphery of Ankasa Conservation Area

During June 2003, an exploratory dung beetle survey (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) was conducted in southwest Ghana at the southern edge of Ankasa Conservation Area, which is a 500-km2 conserved region of the threatened Eastern Upper Guinean rainforest. The survey provided a quantitative assessment of peripheral deforestation effects and an inventory for species on omnivore dung. Pitfall traps baited with pig dung were placed in both selectively logged and unlogged rainforest as well as in nearby oil palm and cacao plantations. The Ankasa forest inventory was mostly comprised of species previously trapped by human dung in the Western Upper Guinean rainforest of Tai National Park, Cote d’Ivoire. However, there was relatively low species abundance similarity between the June/July assemblages on omnivore dung in Tai and Ankasa rainforests, and even lower similarity between assemblages of Ankasa and the adjacent plantations. Of 29 species recorded in Ankasa forest, most were absent or rare in plantations where assemblages were numerically dominated by species previously recorded from the West African savannas. This replacement plantation fauna showed significantly lower species richness and diversity, but significantly higher abundance, compared with Ankasa forest assemblages. The results reiterate that forest reserves are essential for the conservation of specialist rainforest dung beetle species.

A conservation assessment of amphibians in the Forêt Classée du Pic de Fon, Simandou Range, southeastern Republic of Guinea, with the description of a newAmniranaspecies (Amphibia Anura Ranidae)

We report on a species-rich amphibian community from the Forêt Classée du Pic de Fon, southeastern Guinea. The high diversity of habitat types, ranging from Guinea savannah and Upper Guinean rainforest to montane grassland and forest is reflected by the anuran community composition. We recorded at least 33 species from the two sites investigated and estimate that 50–60 species occur within the mountain range. We discuss lesser known and taxonomically problematic species, and summarize data of the whole amphibian community. Several species might be new to science, including one, Amnirana fonensis n. sp., described in the present paper. This new species is distinct from all other West African congeners on the basis of its very rough skin. Nearly 60% of the species recorded from the Forêt Classée du Pic de Fon are endemic to the Upper Guinean rainforest zone and about half of the recorded species are endemic to the western part of this zone. This qualifies the Simandou Range as a very important biodiversity hotspot facing a number of threats, including the possibility of future open cast mining along the mountain ridge. We briefly discuss possible effects of threats on the amphibian community in particular and on the regional ecosystem in general.

First Record of the Genus Acanthixalus Laurent, 1944 from the Upper Guinean Rain Forest, West Africa, with the Description of a New Species

Abstract We describe a new species of Acanthixalus from southwestern Ivory Coast. Acanthixalus sonjae sp. nov. differs from the Central African Acanthixalus spinosus genetically by 4.6 % in the investigated 16S rRNA. Morphologically adult frogs are very similar to A. spinosus. Male A. sonjae have wider heads and probably smaller gular glands than A. spinosus. Tadpoles of A. sonjae differ by much longer tails. Acanthixalus sonjae males are apparently mute. The new species is semiaquatic and lives in large water-filled cavities of trees in secondary and primary rain forest. Tadpoles complete metamorphosis in three months. They are at least partly carnivorous.

A New Phrynobatrachus from the Upper Guinean Rain Forest, West Africa, including a Description of a New Reproductive Mode for the Genus

A New Phrynobatrachus from the Upper Guinean Rain Forest, West Africa, including a Description of a New Reproductive Mode for the Genus

A New Phrynobatrachus from the Upper Guinean Rain Forest, West Africa, Including a Description of a New Reproductive Mode for the Genus

We describe a new species of Phrynobatrachus from the Western part of the Upper Guinean rain forest, West Africa. Phrynobatrachus phyllophilus sp. nov. differs from all other known West African Phrynobatrachus by a combination of morphological and acoustical characters. It is most similar to Phrynobatrachus guineensis from which P. phyllophilus is distinguished by its almost white belly, presence of only one dark bar on femur and tibia, shape of the thumb in reproductive males, advertisement call, reproductive mode, and selection of different forest types. Phrynobatrachus phyllophilus is the first known species of the genus that deposits small clutches of eggs rich in yolk on leaves, in close vicinity to extremely small puddles on the forest floor. Its preferred habitats are swampy areas of primary rain forest. We also describe the tadpole of P. phyllophilus and the advertisement call of P. guineensis.

The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space.

Landscape has long had a submerged presence within anthropology, both as a framing device which informs the way the anthropologist brings his or her study into view, and as the meaning imputed by local people to their cultural and physical surroundings. A principal aim of this volume follows from these interconnected ways of considering landscape: the conventional, Western notion of may be used as a productive point of departure from which to explore analogous ideas; local ideas can in turn reflexively be used to interrogate the Western construct. The Introduction argues that landscape should be conceptualized as a cultural process: a process located between place and space, foreground actuality and background potentiality, image and representation. In the chapters that follow, nine noted anthropologists and an art historian exemplify this approach, drawing on a diverse set of case studies. These range from an analysis of Indian calendar art to an account of Israeli nature tourism, and from the creation of a metropolitan gaze in nineteenth-century Paris to the soundscapes particular to the Papua New Guinean rainforests. The anthropological perspectives developed here are of cross-disciplinary relevance; geographers, art historians, and archaeologists will be no less interested than anthropologists in this re-envisaging of the notion of landscape.

Vegetation of rock outcrops in Guinea: granite inselbergs, sandstone table mountains and ferricretes — remarks on species numbers and endemism

Summary A survey of characteristic plant communities and species occurring on granite inselbergs, sandstone outcrops, and ferricretes in Guinea is given. Examples of species restricted to these insular biota are Pitcairnia feliciana (Bromeliaceae) and rodracoides squamosus (Cyperaceae) . Rock outcrops harbour characteristic habitat types: cryptogamic crusts on rocks, drainage channels, crevices, rock pools, shallow depressions, Afrotrilepis pilosa -mats, ephemeral and wet flush vegetation. Sandstone outcrops of the Fouta Djalon are rich in species and endemics probably due to combined effects of vertical differentiation, large area, long-term climatic stability and isolation. Granite inselbergs and ferricretes have no local endemics and a lower number of species. Floristic homogeneity of granite inselbergs indicates the importance of deterministic processes for controlling diversity. The vegetation of Guinean inselbergs was compared with similar localities in other parts of tropical Africa. Species diversity of inselbergs in Guinean rain forests is higher than on inselbergs in Ivorian rain forests due to higher numbers of growing sites (e.g. rocky slopes of mountain ranges) available for typical inselberg species. Principally, species richness of rock outcrops is positively correlated with the existence of otherwise suitable resources. Supposedly the most diverse inselberg vegetation of tropical Africa is found in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Pollen analysis of a deep-sea core in the Gulf of Guinea: vegetation and climatic changes during the last 225,000 years B.P

Pollen analysis of a deep-sea core off the Ivory Coast continental margin (at about 4°N, 4°W) shows thirteen pollen zones, correlated with isotopic δ 18O stratigraphy of the same sequence over the last 225,000 yr B.P. This study, based on the present regional phytogeographic groups (north of the Gulf of Guinea), determines seven pollen groups considered as the best ecological indicators. These groups, which belong to the Mangrove and Guineo-Congolian, Sudanian, Sahelo-Saharan zones, show an abundant continental flora. Whereas isotopic stages 6, 4 and 2 are considered dry stages and show an increased of the Gramineae, Sahelo-Saharan and Sudanian elements, isotopic stages 7, 5, 3 and 1 are considered humid stages with an increase of the Mangrove and Guinean rain forest. Mangrove pollen percentages provide a record of global humidity and shoreline variations; the rain forest record indicates global humidity. During Stage 5e (warm and humid Interglacial) the Rain Forest expanded maximally (around 124,000 yr B.P.). During the cool intervals 5d and 5b, Podocarpus pollen percentages increased, revealing the occurrence of important paleoclimatic events. The abundance of Podocarpus during interstadials 5d and 5b suggests that there was a broad geographical distribution of this species in western Africa; such former abundance is in contrast to its present-day distribution, reduced to the mountainous areas of Cameroon and São Tomé Island.

Papua New Guinean rainforests: Problems, solutions and questions

Papua New Guinean rainforests: Problems, solutions and questions

Relationships and Radiations in the Meliphagine Honeyeaters, Meliphaga, Lichenostomus and Xanthotis (Aves, Meliphagidae) - Protein Evidence and Its Integration With Morphology and Ecogeography

Protein electrophoresis was carried out on 32 of the c. 40 species of meliphagine honeyeaters and integrated with external morphology and ecogeography to clarify component lineages and their inter-relationships. Three primary lineages were identified, corroborating precisely the three controversial genera currently recognised in the Australo-Papuan region: (1) Lichenostomus with 20 species centred in Australian sclerophyllous habitats, (2) Meliphaga with 12 species in lowland New Guinean and Australian rainforests, and (3) Xanthotis with 3 species in Australo-Papuan rainforests. Except for the L. flavus-L. unicolor group, electrophoresis failed to corroborate consistently any of the morphologically based minor lineages in Lichenostomus and identified no consistent alternatives itself. Among the sibling species of Meliphaga, however, it distinguished two principal groups: the M. lewinii clade of two Australian ad one New Guinean species, and the M. analoga clade of seven New Guinean and one Australo-Papuan species and one Australian endemic, M. albilineata, hitherto of disputed position. Ecogeographic support for these groups is demonstrated. Affinities of peripheral taxa not screened electrophoretically are discussed. Evolutionary radiation among the major lineages is traced against the environmental oscillations of the Plio-Pleistocene in Australia and New Guinea.

Strongyloides cf fuelleborni in Papua New Guinea: epidemiology in an isolated community, and results of an intervention study.

Strongyloides cf fuelleborni was found to be distributed homogeneously with respect to space and time in a semi-nomadic community in Papua New Guinean rainforest. The parasite predominantly infects children, reaching 60% prevalence in the first year of life and peaking around 80% at five years of age. Egg loads follow a similar pattern but peak earlier (at 20 months) and fall off more sharply. The few infected adults have very light infections as measured by egg count. In the first few months of life, incidence was estimated as 50% per month. Following treatment, incidence in older children was reduced to around 9% per month. By comparison, hookworm infection (probably all Necator americanus) has a much lower incidence in early life, and this increases with age. The high incidence of Strongyloides in early life is not explained by prenatal infection or by contamination from maternal faeces.

ABUNDANCE AND SEASONALITY OF THE SAVANNA AVIFAUNA AT PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

SummaryThe results of 156 transect counts carried out over 30 months in savanna of the Coastal Hill Zone, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, are analysed. The avifauna is depauperate compared to similar habitats in New Guinea and temperate Australia. Twelve common species of the Port Moresby savannas were not so in the Coastal Hill Zone and reasons for their rarity are given. Most species present are solely savanna forms but some are dependent upon the presence of small patches of monsoon forest. Average density of birds was estimated at 55 per 10ha, a very low figure compared to New Guinean rainforests. Carnivores and mixed‐feeders make up two thirds of numbers present but frugivores, because of their large individual size, are a significant proportion of biomass. There was little significant seasonal difference in overall numbers except for granivores which decline in numbers during the wet season. However, individual species show regular seasonal fluctuations reasons for which are postulated. A correlation exists between flowering of trees and numbers of certain species, and also between the annual grass‐fires and numbers of certain grassland species. Merops ornatus, Lalage sueurii and Coracina novaehollandiae, considered in the literature to be wintering migrants, are also shown to be breeding residents. Breeding records for 462 species were analysed. Most breeding of insectivores and mixed‐feeders occurs in the Austral spring during the dry season and ends before the onset of heavy rains. Granivores breed in the late wet season. The few records for frugivores indicate a wet season peak.