Background

Bryophytes form the second largest plant phylum after Angiosperms with about 20,000 species and despite the implementation of the national botanical inventory there is no database on Bryophytes in Benin. Bryophytes’ sensitivity to high temperatures make them a valuable resource for monitoring the effects of climate change on the living environment. Due to their prominent role in ecosystem functions such as soil development, nutrient biogeochemical cycling, water retention, plant colonization, seed germination, seedling growth, and forest renovation they can be used as indicator species to detect changes in plant communities.

Bryophytes are rarely considered in biodiversity surveys in West Africa and this project addresses the need to inventory and mobilize data for this group in order to be made publicly-available and available for education, conservation and sustainable management.

The key goals for this projects are:

• Resources: make resources available for identification, taxonomy, surveys and conservation assessments of Bryophytes in Benin, including postgraduate projects;
• Data Publication: mobilize and publish data (pictures and species occurrence records) on GBIF and iNaturalist;
• train staff of National Herbarium of Benin and others scientists on how prepare, publish and access of data from GBIF and

Project Details

The project’s success will be measured through: (i) the number of external bryologists involved in exploratory missions, resources produced such a guide book (Bryophyte flora of Benin), articles, pamphlets, reports, workshops publishable on YouTube etc. (ii) datasets generated and their publication on various open source platforms.

Project Director Biography

Dr. Gbèwonmèdéa Hospice DASSOU earned his Ph.D. in 2016 at the University University of Abomey-Calavi (Republic of Benin) and is currently Head of the Botanical and Zoological Garden “Edouard Adjanohoun” of the University. He is also Assistant Professor of Botany at the National Herbarium of Benin. Hospice teaches and conducts research on plant species of conservation interests (rare, endemic, and threatened) in ecosystems such as mountains and rainforests, and contributes to plans for their long-term conservation through ecological applications. He co-supervised over 10 graduate students and published over 40 papers.