Lactifluus foetens and Lf. albomembranaceus sp. nov. (Russulaceae): look-alike milkcaps from gallery forests in tropical Africa

Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 277 (2) ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESKE DE CROP ◽  
KOBEKE VAN DE PUTTE ◽  
SERGE DE WILDE ◽  
ANDRÉ-LEDOUX NJOUONKOU ◽  
ANDRÉ DE KESEL ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Local Markets ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Edible Fungus ◽  
Personal Consumption ◽  
Gallery Forests ◽  
Morphological Research

The ectomycorrhizal milkcap genus Lactifluus is commonly found within Central and West African gallery forests. During field expeditions in Cameroon and Togo, several collections of white Lactifluus species were found, resembling Lactifluus foetens. Molecular and morphological research indicates that these collections belong to two unrelated species, i.e. Lactifluus foetens and an undescribed taxon. The latter is here described as Lactifluus albomembranaceus sp. nov. from the gallery forests in Central and Western Africa. In Cameroon, at least, Lactifluus albomembranaceus is a popular edible fungus that is harvested for personal consumption and offered for sale at local markets.

scholarly journals Are we on track reaching SDG3 in 2030? Gap analyses for African & European countries including Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
U Laaser ◽  
V Bjegovic-Mikanovic
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
West African ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Background To reach the targets of SDG3 not more than a decade is left. How do the Low and Middle-Income Countries in Northern Africa - in the immediate neighborhood to Europe - compare to the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and well-developed European countries around the Baltic Sea (the “Northern Dimension”) incl. Russia? Methods We used quantifiable mortality indicators and targeted reductions until 2030, as published for SDG3.1/2/3 by the United Nations in 2015. To estimate progress or delay we used the methodology of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) based on the target year 2030, a year of observation, and a year at baseline. For the comparison between Northern Africa/Northern Europe we calculated for indicator 3.3 the Premature Years of Life Lost (PYLL) and for the comparison of Northern/Western Africa the more sensitive indicators 3.1 and 2, the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), the Neonatal Mortality Rate NMR, and the under-five Mortality Rate (<5MR). Results In Northern Africa, only Algerian and Morocco will achieve the 2030 target 3.4 in time i.e., 2.5 and 7 years in advance, whereas Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are in delay Mauretania even by 14.5 years. The countries around the Baltic Sea likely will achieve the targeted reduction before 2030, Estonia on top already 2025, followed by Latvia and Finland in 2026, and the Russian Federation in 2027. Among the 15 West African states, Capo Verde has reached the targets 3.1 and 2 already, followed by Senegal (e.g., 4.0 years in advance for <5MR) and Ghana, whereas Guinea Bissau is positioned at the end with a delay of 4,2 years for MMR. The countries of Northern Africa are on track except for Algeria, with 6.2 years in delay for MMR and Mauretania for all indicators. Conclusions Whereas the European countries are well in advance of the SDG targets, Northern Africa shows a mixed picture and the countries of Western Africa with a few exceptions are in delay. Key messages European countries around the Baltic Sea and Russia are well on track for SDG3, reducing their premature mortality by one third until 2030. Whereas the European countries are well in advance of the SDG targets, Northern Africa shows a mixed picture and the countries of Western Africa with a few exceptions are in delay.

scholarly journals The World Flora Online 2020 project: will Cameroon come up to the expectation?

Rodriguésia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 961-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Michel Onana
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
West African ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Red Data Book ◽  
The World ◽  
Data Book ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
High Level

Abstract Biodiverse Cameroon has been highlighted as the top country in tropical Africa for plant species diversity per degree square, with a higher diversity than all other West African countries added together, and including two of the top documented centres of plant diversity in Tropical Africa. Despite its reduced taxonomic capacity, with only six active taxonomists a high level of botanical activity in the country has resulted in accomplishments such as the databasing of the YA Herbarium (over 60,000 records), which has an in-country collection coverage of almost 95% of the known plant species that are recorded for Cameroon. Other accomplishments are the Red Data Book of the Flowering Plants of Cameroon, several local checklists and published volumes of the Flore du Cameroun which covers 37% of the country's species. Currently the checklist of Cameroon records 7,850 taxa at species and infraspecific level. Resources are needed to support and heighten the profile of this small botanical community. Already thanks to strong collaboration between Cameroon and renowned botanical institutes of others countries, in particular France and United Kingdom, one hundred and thirteen plant families have been published and would help this country to complete the recording of its biodiversity towards contributing to the World Flora Online 2020 project.

Trans*textuality in William Shakespeare’s Othello: Italian, West African, and English Encounters

2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-429
Author(s):  
Susan Arndt
Keyword(s):  
Research Group ◽  
West African ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
Student Research ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Phd Thesis

Abstract William Shakespeare’s Othello (1604) displays a critical agenda towards the emerging colonialist discourse of his time and may have encountered, or even been influenced by, African oral literature. This thesis will be probed in this article by comparing Othello with the folktale “The Handsome Stranger” and the Trickster character, well known all across Western Africa, touching lightly on Leo Africanus’s The History and Description of Africa (1550) in the process. In doing so, Othello’s most acknowledged source text, “Un Capitano Moro” by Giovanni Battista Giraldi (1565), will be involved, thus complementing earlier comparative readings of “Un Capitano Moro” and Othello. This postcolonial comparative reading will finally embrace Ahmed Yerima’s adaptation of Othello, entitled Otaelo (2002). In doing so, the article will discuss striking parallels among all four texts, as well as differences and diversions. The latter are, however, not read as counter arguments to the possibility of an encounter; rather, discursive diversions are contextualised historically and trans*textually. Before delving into this analysis, the article will explore both historical probabilities and methodological challenges of reading African oral literature as possible sources of Shakespeare’s Othello, as well as theorise trans*textuality (as related to and yet distinct from Kristeva’s intertextuality and Genette’s transtextuality).This article has developed from two papers, one held in 2015 at a symposium dedicated to Michael Steppat in Bayreuth, who, ever since, accompanied this project with most helpful critical input; I owe him my sincerest gratitude. A second workshop on this topic was held in 2016 in Berlin in the presence of Shankar Raman, Christopher Joseph Odhiambo, and a student research group from Bayreuth with Taghrid Elhanafy, Weeraya Donsomsakulkij, Samira Paraschiv, and Mingqing Yuan. Taghrid Elhanafy dedicates her MA and PhD thesis to comparing Romeo and Juliet with several Arabic and Farsi versions of Layla and Majnun (Cf. Elhanafy 2018). Moreover, this article owes sincere gratitude to a most challenging and expert editing by Shirin Assa, PhD candidate at Bayreuth University, as well as Omid Soltani. Moreover, I wish to thank Dilan Zoe Smida and especially Samira Paraschiv for supporting me while doing research and working on notes and bibliography.

Taxonomic revision of the Square-tailed Drongo species complex (Passeriformes: Dicruridae) with description of a new species from western Africa

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4438 (1) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
JÉRÔME FUCHS ◽  
MORY DOUNO ◽  
RAURI C.K. BOWIE ◽  
JON FJELDSÅ
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Genetic Divergence ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Gallery Forests ◽  
A New Species

We describe a new species of drongo in the Square-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus ludwigii) complex using a combination of biometric and genetic data. The new species differs from previously described taxa in the Square-tailed Drongo complex by possessing a significantly heavier bill and via substantial genetic divergence (6.7%) from its sister-species D. sharpei. The new species is distributed across the gallery forests of coastal Guinea, extending to the Niger and Benue Rivers of Nigeria. We suspect that this taxon was overlooked by previous avian systematists because they either lacked comparative material from western Africa or because the key diagnostic morphological character (bill characteristics) was not measured. We provide an updated taxonomy of the Square-tailed Drongo species complex. 

scholarly journals A breeding colony of the Near Threatened Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor in western Africa: a conservation story of threats and land management

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 426-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. MORENO-OPO ◽  
Z. E. OULD SIDATY ◽  
J. M. BALDÒ ◽  
F. GARCÌA ◽  
D. OULD SEHLA DAF ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Work ◽  
West African ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Breeding Colony ◽  
Lesser Flamingo ◽  
Ecological Requirements ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Phacochoerus Africanus ◽  
Greater Flamingos

SummaryThe 2011 breeding results of the Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor at its only West African colony, in Aftout es Saheli, south-west Mauritania, are presented. Several breeding attempts have been documented since the second half of the 19th century although no successful breeding, in terms of fledged juveniles, was recorded until 2010. Adverse hydrological dynamics, easy access to the colony by predators, and disturbance and direct mortality caused by poachers led to the failure of all previous breeding attempts. In 2011 the breeding colony was monitored and a number of major threats were identified and averted. Management interventions consisted of deterring and trapping predators (jackals Canis adustus and C. aureus and warthog Phacochoerus africanus) around the colony and preventing the killing of flamingos by poachers. As a result, 4,800 Lesser Flamingos and 10,200 Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus incubating individuals, as well as about 14,000 chicks of both species, were recorded. It was not possible to prevent the death by predation or other natural causes of 4,672 juveniles of both species after the wetland dried up, so the final estimated number of fledged juveniles was 10,000. The field work allowed us to collect information on hydrological dynamics and to propose conservation measures matching Lesser Flamingo ecological requirements. Similarly, we identified the most sustainable measures for deterring predators, with the aim of including them in the management of the wetland.

scholarly journals Explaining Episodes of Growth Accelerations, Decelerations, and Collapses in Western Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550003
Author(s):  
Patrick Imam ◽  
Gonzalo Salinas
Keyword(s):  
Political Stability ◽  
West African ◽  
External Shocks ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Growth Regressions ◽  
Domestic Credit ◽  
Growth Accelerations ◽  
Sub Saharan

The growth literature has had problems explaining the "sub-Saharan African growth dummy" in cross-country regressions. Instead of taking the usual approach of focusing on long-run growth and assuming that sub-Saharan countries have homogenous parameters in growth regressions, we concentrate our analysis on episodes of growth turnarounds (identifying growth accelerations, decelerations, and collapses) and use only West African countries in our sample. Using probits for a group of 22 Western African economies for the period 1960–2006, we find that growth accelerations are most clearly associated with external shocks, economic liberalization, political stability, and closeness to the coast; decelerations occurred during short-lived regimes and when corruption indices weakened; and collapses are linked to external shocks, falling domestic credit, and proximity to the coast.

scholarly journals Soil fungal communities of ectomycorrhizal dominated woodlands across West Africa

MycoKeys ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 45-68
Author(s):  
Peter Meidl ◽  
Brendan Furneaux ◽  
Kassim I. Tchan ◽  
Kerri Kluting ◽  
Martin Ryberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Its Region ◽  
West African ◽  
Host Tree ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Gallery Forests ◽  
Host Tree Species ◽  
Ecm Fungi

Forests and woodlands in the West African Guineo-Sudanian transition zone contain many tree species that form symbiotic interactions with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. These fungi facilitate plant growth by increasing nutrient and water uptake and include many fruiting body-forming fungi, including some edible mushrooms. Despite their importance for ecosystem functioning and anthropogenic use, diversity and distribution of ECM fungi is severely under-documented in West Africa. We conducted a broad regional sampling across five West African countries using soil eDNA to characterize the ECM as well as the total soil fungal community in gallery forests and savanna woodlands dominated by ECM host tree species. We subsequently sequenced the entire ITS region and much of the LSU region to infer a phylogeny for all detected soil fungal species. Utilizing a long read sequencing approach allows for higher taxonomic resolution by using the full ITS region, while the highly conserved LSU gene allows for a more accurate higher-level assignment of species hypotheses, including species without ITS-based taxonomy assignments. We detect no overall difference in species richness between gallery forests and woodlands. However, additional gallery forest plots and more samples per plot would have been needed to firmly conclude this pattern. Based on both abundance and richness, species from the families Russulaceae and Inocybaceae dominate the ECM fungal soil communities across both vegetation types. The community structure of both total soil fungi and ECM fungi was significantly influenced by vegetation types and showed strong correlation within plots. However, we found no significant difference in fungal community structure between samples collected adjacent to different host tree species within each plot. We conclude that within plots, the fungal community is structured more by the overall ECM host plant community than by the species of the individual host tree that each sample was collected from.

INTRODUCTION: POST-GADDAFI REPERCUSSIONS IN THE SAHEL AND WEST AFRICA

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Bøås ◽  
Mats Utas
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Fair Share ◽  
Rapid Social Change ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
Trading Posts ◽  
Ocean Shipping ◽  
Full Effect ◽  
The World ◽  
Almost Open

The areas south of Libya have experienced more than their fair share of conflict and rapid social change. In earlier times, the main routes of trade, commerce and pilgrimage between West African and the Arab Peninsula passed through this region, also once inhabited by mighty warrior empires (see for example Bawuro 1972). However, as the empires along these routes faded away, and international ocean shipping opened up this part of Africa to the forces of global trade and capitalism, the centres of authority that once controlled this region also vanished. What remained was an almost open territory: unwelcoming and hard, but also a place of possibilities and the freedom to roam for those who had mastered the art of survival under such difficult conditions. This was the land of the Tuareg and other semi-nomadic groups who controlled cities and important trading posts such as Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal in contemporary Mali. This is the world of the Sahel and the parts of Western Africa that straddles Libya, and a region that currently includes Southern Algeria, Northern Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and parts of Northern Nigeria. These are therefore also the countries and areas that have come to experience the full effect of what we define as post-Gaddafi repercussions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document