ANPN Science Brief

Chocolate is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth. New research shows that illegal cocoa plantations have massively encroached on many of Cote d'Ivoire's protected areas and decimated primate populations.  Since the country's independence, Cote d'Ivoire has become the world's largest producer of cocoa, supplying 33% of the world's cocoa to chocolate producers. As plantations age, they become less productive, so cocoa farming policies have favoured the practice of clearing new arable land rather than maintaining old pastures. Over the last 3 decades, as global demands for chocolate have increased, cocoa producers have sought out new areas of productive pasture - contributing to wide-scale deforestation. According to Global Forest Watch , between 2001-2013, Cote d'Ivoire lost about 1.3 million hectares of forest, cleared at a rate of about 100,000 hectares a year. In addition, political and economic instability during the 2000's led to widespread human...

The oceanic islands of Sao Tome and Principe are millions of years old and have never been connected to mainland Africa. Due to their isolation they have accumulated hundreds of endemic species, including reed frogs of the genus Hyperolius , a diverse group found across Sub-Saharan Africa. Islands are good places to study evolutionary processes, and in the Gulf of Guinea, reed frogs are thought to be the islands' only endemic vertebrates to have diversified within a single island as well as having dispersed between islands. A new study looks at patterns of diversification and dispersal among reed frogs of Sao Tome and Principe. Using mitochondrial DNA and genome wide SNP markers, the researchers looked at Hyperolius molleri  - endemic to the two islands - and the Endangered H. thomensis , found only on Sao Tome island. They compared them with the sister species H. cinnamomeoventris from neighbouring Gabon. They found that Hyperolius initially colonised the younger Sao Tome islan...

La bibliothèque digitale de l'ANPN est disponible pour consultation en ligne: ANPN Bibliotheque Cette bibliothèque, accueilli par "Zotero", contient plus que 3800 articles. Elle vise à présenter une collection compréhensive de la littérature publié et non-publié p our les Parcs Nationaux du Gabon ainsi que la conservation de la biodiversité au Gabon et les pays voisins. Les thématiques comprennent la conservation, la biodiversité, l'écologie, la foresterie, la sante des écosystèmes et de la faune, la gestion des aires protégées, les parcs nationaux du Gabon, le changement climatique, l'anthropologie, l'archéologie, la socio-économie et l'environnement. Les ‘Tags’ peuvent être utilisés pour filtrer les zones, aires protégées ou sites spécifiques ainsi que les institutions impliqués. Les articles en version pdf ne sont pas encore disponibles pour téléchargement à la grand publique, donc prière de nous contacter pour obtenir les copies des articles re...