Wet Tropics: Africa
Introduction
The great tropical rainforests of Africa are some of the most species-rich natural habitats in the world. Powered by sunlight, heat, and abundant rainfall, these ancient, complex ecosystems teem with life, providing homes to a unique assemblage of plants, animals, and fungi, most of which are found nowhere else on earth. Many of these habitats, and their species, are threatened with destruction before their species are even inventoried. In some areas in Cameroon, 1 in every 10 specimens gathered has proved to be a new species to science. The Wet Tropics of Africa team seeks to work with and build the capacity of national botanists in Guineo-Congolian (W and C) Africa. Our country priorities are those where species diversity is believed to be high but is poorly surveyed, where the national botanical capacity needs building, and which are politically stable. Our fieldwork focus is on conducting collaborative, specimen-based surveys of plants and fungi in protected areas or potentially protected areas. These are usually aimed at producing 'conservation checklists' that document the plant species present and assess their IUCN global conservation status and include information that allows those which are threatened (Red Data species) to be better identified, monitored and managed.