ABSTRACT
Agriculture is expanding rapidly across the tropics. While cultivation can boost socioeconomic conditions and food security, it also threatens native ecosystems. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), which is grown pantropically, is the most productive vegetable oil crop worldwide. The impacts of oil palm cultivation have been studied extensively in Southeast Asia and - to a lesser extent - in Latin America but, in comparison, very little is known about its impacts in Africa: oil palm's native range, and where cultivation is expanding rapidly. In this paper, we introduce a large-scale research programme - the Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa (SOPWA) Project - that is evaluating the relative ecological impacts of oil palm cultivation under traditional (i.e., by local people) and industrial (i.e., by a large-scale corporation) management in Liberia. Our paper is twofold in focus. First, we use systematic mapping to appraise the literature on oil palm research in an African context, assessing the geographic and disciplinary focus of existing research. We found 757 publications occurring in 36 African countries. Studies tended to focus on the impacts of palm oil consumption on human health and wellbeing. We found no research that has evaluated the whole-ecosystem (i.e., multiple taxa and ecosystem functions) impacts of oil palm cultivation in Africa, a knowledge gap which the SOPWA Project directly addresses. Second, we describe the SOPWA Project's study design and-using canopy cover, ground vegetation cover, and soil temperature data as a case study-demonstrate its utility for assessing differences between areas of rainforest and oil palm agriculture. We outline the socioecological data collected by the SOPWA Project to date and describe the potential for future research, to encourage new collaborations and additional similar projects of its kind in West Africa. Increased research in Africa is needed urgently to understand the combined ecological and sociocultural impacts of oil palm and other agriculture in this unique region. This will help to ensure long-term sustainability of the oil palm industry-and, indeed, all tropical agricultural activity-in Africa.
Subject(s)
Conservation of Natural Resources , Ecosystem , Humans , Plant Oils , Agriculture , Africa, WesternABSTRACT
Three new species of Thiratoscirtus are described from Salonga National Park, D.R. Congo: Thiratoscirtus iyomii (), T. kalisia () and T. khonvoum (). All species were caught on the forest floor during a rapid biodiversity inventory and represent the second report of spider collections from the largest protected tropical rainforest reserve in Africa.
Subject(s)
Rainforest , Spiders , Animals , Forests , BiodiversityABSTRACT
A new species of ant-resembling sac spider of the subfamily Castianeirinae, Grismadox elsneri sp. nov., is described from the Sub-Andean area of the Bolivian orocline. The species was collected from savanna grass along the edges of the Chiquitano forest and is a putative mimic of the carpenter ants Camponotus cf. crassus or C. cf. blandus.
Subject(s)
Ants , Spiders , Animal Distribution , Animal Structures , Animals , Body Size , Bolivia , Organ SizeABSTRACT
A new ant-like spider species of the subfamily Castianeirinae, Mazax akephaloi sp. nov., representing the second species of Mazax recorded from South America, is described from the Bolivian orocline and the Paraguayan Chaco region. The new species superficially resembles Mazax ramirezi Rubio Daniman, 2014, but can be distinguished from this species and all other congeners by a combination of the following characters: feathery setae on the carapace, a tibia I spine formula of 54 in males and 55 in females, the embolus sub-apical with a spatulate extension, the lung-shaped spermathecae II and slightly undulating copulatory ducts. Adults of M. akephaloi sp. nov. were observed foraging in association with workers of the ant Ectatomma permagnum Forel, 1908 on the ground or leaf litter along forest edges. Although the spiders were lacking a structure imitating the head of the ants, they shared several characters (dark brown integument with distinct, coarse wrinkles and shiny reflections, abdomen anteriorly with dorsally pointing process and distinct median constriction) that increased the species-specific similarity to their potential ant models.
Subject(s)
Ants , Spiders , Animal Distribution , Animal Structures , Animals , Female , Forests , MaleABSTRACT
A new species of the castianeirine spider genus Copa Simon, 1885, is described from northwestern Mahamavo region in Madagascar. Copa sakalava sp. nov. () is illustrated and diagnosed against continental Afrotropical congeners.
Subject(s)
Spiders , Animal Distribution , Animals , Body Size , Forests , Madagascar , Organ SizeABSTRACT
The castianeirine spider genus Myrmecotypus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1894 is reported from Paraguay for the first time, with the description of a new species, Myrmecotypus mboitui sp. nov. (ââ) from the eembuc Wetlands Complex of south-western Paraguay. The species belongs to a small group of Myrmecotypus with elongated and constricted abdomens. Illustrations of the diagnostic characters of the new species are provided. An updated key to the species of Myrmecotypus is presented.
Subject(s)
Spiders , Animals , ParaguayABSTRACT
Two Neotropical species of the subfamily Castianeirinae are treated herein. Castianeira spinipalpis Mello-Leito, 1945 was described from a single female specimen; we provide a redescription of the female and the male is described for the first time. The species is newly recorded from Paraguay and Bolivia. Also, Myrmecotypus rubioi sp. nov. is described from the Bolivian Moxos plains, a tropical savanna ecoregion of the Beni department of northern Bolivia. The new species can be distinguished from others in the genus by having tibia I spination 3-2, coxa II whitish (the remainder dark), and a unique male palpal embolus with two broad embolic discs basal to the embolus tip.
