This project will document the butterfly biodiversity of relict forest 'islands' from one of the most biologically unique, critically imperiled, and understudied regions in the world; the tropical forests of Ghana. The project emphasizes survey and conservation of forest reserves and irreplaceable sacred groves. Sacred groves are isolated forest areas that have been protected for hundreds of years by indigenous peoples and that were within living memory part of continuous forest. Major goals are to 1) investigate how forest fragmentation impacts communities of forest-dependent species and to identify what factors promote their persistence versus extinction, and 2) narrow the pervasive knowledge gap that currently exists for the unique forest ecosystems of West Africa. Butterflies are excellent models for evaluating the status of natural communities in degraded landscapes because they show a wide diversity of relative sensitivities to environmental change, are tightly linked to ecological systems as both primary consumers (herbivores) and food items, and are easily collected and identified. Primary field activities associated with the project will occur over three years and include regular and systematic survey of nine forest sites using baited traps and net collections, intensive spot surveys of at least six additional unique forest sites, measurement of forest characteristics at each site (e.g., size and canopy cover), and purposeful collection of caterpillars and their food plant dependencies to amass much needed, but largely nonexistent, information on species' biology and natural histories. The project will 1) greatly expand our understanding of forest biodiversity in tropical West Africa, 2) test broad ecological and biogeographic hypotheses that have relevance beyond this particular system, 3) establish a data and image-rich library of the Ghanaian butterfly fauna on the world wide web, 4) make species checklists and summary findings rapidly available to local communities and conservation agencies to facilitate science-based conservation plans, 5) help solidify permanent reference and museum collections in the host country, and 6) generate a reference framework for future research in molecular biology, ecology, evolution, and systematics.
The project emphasizes education, training, capacity building, and cultural exchange. It is an international collaboration that includes overseas research and professional opportunities for U.S. and Ghanaian students and scientists, and involves cooperating specialists from the U.S., Britain, Belgium, and Vietnam, and multiple institutions and staff in the U.S. (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Carnegie Museum of Natural History) and Ghana (Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Kwame-Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Wildlife Division, and Nature Conservation Research Centre).
This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.
