scholarly journals Genetic variation of the most abundant forest‐dwelling rodents in Central Africa ( Praomys jacksoni complex): Evidence for Pleistocene refugia in both montane and lowland forests

Author(s):  
Daniela Mizerovská ◽  
Violaine Nicolas ◽  
Terrence C. Demos ◽  
Dudu Akaibe ◽  
Marc Colyn ◽  
...  
Kew Bulletin ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cheek ◽  
Nouhou Ndam ◽  
Andrew Budden

SummaryThis paper reports a further discovery of a new endemic threatened species to science in the context of botanical surveys in the lowland coastal forests of Mount Cameroon in the Cross River-Sanaga interval of west-central Africa. These studies now focus on species discovery and conservation through the Tropical Important Plant Areas programme. New species to science continue to be discovered from Mt Cameroon. Most of these species are rare, highly localised, and threatened by habitat destruction, increasing the justification for improved conservation management of surviving habitat. Drypetes burnleyae is placed in and keyed out in Drypetes sect. Stipulares, a group mostly confined to Lower Guinea, here adjusted to accommodate nine species. The conservation status of Drypetes burnleyae is assessed as Endangered (EN B1+2ab(iii)) according to the 2012 criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. An updated overview of the plant endemics of Mt Cameroon is presented.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 177 (1) ◽  
pp. 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tariq Stévart ◽  
Jean Philippe Biteau ◽  
Valérie Cawoy ◽  
Vincent Droissart

Two specimens of an apparently new Bulbophylum species were found in the Monts de Cristal, Gabon. They have a unique leaf shape among the species of this genus in Continental Africa. The flower shares the general morphology of Bulbophyllum saltatorium, one of the most common members of Bulbophyllum in Central Africa. Eight other taxa of the Continental African Bulbophyllum possess unifoliate pseudobulbs and long hairs on the lip. Comparison with them indicates that the new collections from Gabon represent a distinctive species, not yet known in the genus. We describe it here as Bulbophyllum pauwelsianum. The distinguishing features of the species include its leaves, which are pendant, coriaceous, linear, semiterete and v-shaped in transverse section, and its sepals, which possess relatively long hairs on their margins. A table of the taxonomic treatments of the nine Continental African Bulbophyllum taxa considered here is included. A taxonomic key and a table of the diagnostic characters of these nine taxa are given to facilitate identification. The new species is restricted to lowland forests of the Monts de Cristal in Gabon. A preliminary assessment of the conservation status, using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria is provided.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Bergström ◽  
Shane A. McCarthy ◽  
Ruoyun Hui ◽  
Mohamed A. Almarri ◽  
Qasim Ayub ◽  
...  

AbstractGenome sequences from diverse human groups are needed to understand the structure of genetic variation in our species and the history of, and relationships between, different populations. We present 929 high-coverage genome sequences from 54 diverse human populations, 26 of which are physically phased using linked-read sequencing. Analyses of these genomes reveal an excess of previously undocumented private genetic variation in southern and central Africa and in Oceania and the Americas, but an absence of fixed, private variants between major geographical regions. We also find deep and gradual population separations within Africa, contrasting population size histories between hunter-gatherer and agriculturalist groups in the last 10,000 years, a potentially major population growth episode after the peopling of the Americas, and a contrast between single Neanderthal but multiple Denisovan source populations contributing to present-day human populations. We also demonstrate benefits to the study of population relationships of genome sequences over ascertained array genotypes. These genome sequences are freely available as a resource with no access or analysis restrictions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 104 (51) ◽  
pp. 20432-20436 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Anthony ◽  
M. Johnson-Bawe ◽  
K. Jeffery ◽  
S. L. Clifford ◽  
K. A. Abernethy ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cheek ◽  
Nouhou Ndam ◽  
Andrew Budden

ABSTRACTBackground and aimsThis paper reports a further discovery of a new endemic threatened species to science in the context of long-term botanical surveys in the lowland coastal forests of Mount Cameroon specifically and generally in the Cross River-Sanaga interval of west-central Africa. These studies focus on species discovery and conservation through the Tropical Important Plant Areas programme.MethodsNormal practices of herbarium taxonomy have been applied to study the material collected. The relevant collections are stored in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London and at the Limbe Botanic Garden, Limbe, and the Institute of Research in Agronomic Development – National Herbarium of Cameroon, Yaoundé.Key resultsNew species to science continue to be discovered from Mt Cameroon. Most of these species are rare, highly localised, and threatened by habitat destruction. These discoveries increase the justification for improved conservation management of surviving habitat. Drypetes njonji is described as an additional species new to science and appears to be endemic to the lowland coastal forests at the foot of Mt Cameroon. It is placed in and keyed out in Sect. Stipulares, a group confined to Lower Guinea. The conservation status of Drypetes njonji is assessed as Endangered (EN B1+2ab(iii)) according to the 2012 criteria of IUCN. An updated overview of the lowland plant endemics of Mt Cameroon is presented.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varsovia Cevallos ◽  
Denisse Benítez ◽  
Josefina Coloma ◽  
Andrés Carrazco ◽  
Chunling Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractThis is the first genetic analysis in Ecuador of Aedes aegypti using fragments of mitochondrial genes, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). A total of 154 mosquitoes from 23 localities were collected in the Pacific coastal lowlands, Amazon basin lowlands, and the Galápagos Islands from 2012 to 2019. The analysis of fragments of the genes COI (672 bp) and ND4 (262 bp) and concatenated analysis of both COI and ND4 showed two haplotypes (H1, H2) present in Ecuador mainland and the Galápagos Islands. The phylogenetic analysis identified two well-supported clades. Combined analysis of both genes from ten localities also resulted in two haplotypes. Nucleotide diversity, neutrality tests (Tajima’s test D, Fu and Li’s F*and D*) and AMOVA analysis of the entire data set suggest balancing selection for both genes. The results indicate genetic variation without geographical restriction. COI-H1 grouped with sequences from the Americas, West and Central Africa, East Africa, Asia, and Australia. ND4-H1 grouped with similar sequences from the Americas, Asia and West Africa. COI-H2 grouped with sequences from Asia and the Americas. ND4-H2 grouped with sequences from the Americas. We report overlapping peaks in four sequences that suggest heteroplasmy in the individuals. The origin of the populations of Aedes aegypti in Ecuador show African genetic origin and are widely present in several countries in the Americas. One of the genetic variants is more common in all the localities and the two haplotypes are distributed indistinctly in the three geographical sampled areas in Ecuador.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-288
Author(s):  
Dang Phan Hien ◽  
Nguyen Minh Duc ◽  
Nguyen Phan Lan Hong ◽  
Bui Thi Tuyet Xuan ◽  
Vu Dinh Duy ◽  
...  

Anisoptera costata Korth, an endangered species is distributed in lowland tropical forests of southern Vietnam. Habitat loss and over-exploitation are the major reasons for threatening this species. Eight polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to analyze 64 adult trees from three A. costata populations in lowland tropical forests of Tan Phu, Dinh Quan district, Dong Nai Province in Southeast Vietnam to detect the effects of deforestation on gene flow and the differentiation among populations in lowland tropical forests. The results showed that all A. costata populations have the moderate levels of the genetic diversity within populations with mean values of observed and expected heterozygosities, 0.242 and 0.269, respectively, moderate genetic differentiation among A. costata populations (0.179), and indicating limited gene flow (Nm = 1.15). Analysis of molecular variance indicated high genetic variation within populations (64.68%) and indicating moderate genetic structure in A. costata in Tan Phu. Bayesian analysis detected two genetic lineages, cluster 1 including one population of Mieu Co Nam and cluster 2 including two populations, Thac Mai and Bau Nuoc. These results contribute understanding genetic diversity of A. costata in lowland forests of Southeastern Vietnam and will provide guidelines for conservation, management and resoration of the species.


Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6484) ◽  
pp. eaay5012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Bergström ◽  
Shane A. McCarthy ◽  
Ruoyun Hui ◽  
Mohamed A. Almarri ◽  
Qasim Ayub ◽  
...  

Genome sequences from diverse human groups are needed to understand the structure of genetic variation in our species and the history of, and relationships between, different populations. We present 929 high-coverage genome sequences from 54 diverse human populations, 26 of which are physically phased using linked-read sequencing. Analyses of these genomes reveal an excess of previously undocumented common genetic variation private to southern Africa, central Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, but an absence of such variants fixed between major geographical regions. We also find deep and gradual population separations within Africa, contrasting population size histories between hunter-gatherer and agriculturalist groups in the past 10,000 years, and a contrast between single Neanderthal but multiple Denisovan source populations contributing to present-day human populations.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. e0190520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Yoon Chung ◽  
Son Hai Vu ◽  
Jordi López-Pujol ◽  
Sonia Herrando-Moraira ◽  
Sungwon Son ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
A. S. R. Juo ◽  
L. P. Wilding

The forest zone of West and Central Africa comprises the coastal and adjacent inland regions bounded the semi-deciduous forests in the west and the equatorial forests in central Africa and the Congo basin. Sedimentary plains, developed mostly on weathered sandy materials, lie along the coastal stretches and cover vast areas of the Congo basin. Behind the coast the plain rises gradually to hills and plateaus of much lower elevation than those of the highlands of East Africa. Two great rivers, the Niger and the Congo, which discharge huge volumes of fresh water to the Atlantic Ocean, are major contributors to the hydrological cycles of the rain forests ecosystems of the Guinea–Congo Region. The Niger originates from the forested highlands of Guinea and discharges its waters into the Bight of Benin by way of a large delta in southern Nigeria. The Congo basin occupies an immense area of 750 000 km2, surrounded by Pre-Cambrian uplands. The alluvial floor of the saucer-shaped basin is flat, and marshes and swamps comprise a large proportion of the total area. The highlands and plateaus along the rim are low to the west and north and higher to the south. To the east, they merge with the mountains of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa (Gann & Duignan 1972; Hance 1975; Grove 1978; Hamilton 1989).


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