Workshop Overview
The African Continent
supports a rich biodiversity of freshwater fishes, owing to its great climatic
and physiographic complexity. Much of this diversity is being threatened by the
continent's expanding human population, increasing aridity and demand for fresh
water, and introduction of invasive exotic species. Scientists from
many parts of the
world are engaged in biodiversity research in Africa. However,
there is clear need to involve even more scientists
in this endeavor, especially scientists from African countries. An international
workshop was held in Grahamstown, South Africa, 17-21
November 2008, to explore ways of enhancing freshwater fish biodiversity
research in Africa.
The workshop was the 4th International Workshop organized by the Cypriniformes
Tree of Life (CToL) initiative, a collaborative, international research
project focused on uncovering the evolutionary relationships, classification,
and biodiversity of fishes of Order Cypriniformes (http://www.cypriniformes.org
). The workshop was hosted by the South African
Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity and held on the campus of
Rhodes University. The workshop was funded by a grant
from the Office of International Science and Engineering at
the U.S. National Science Foundation (OISE 0840613).
Participants in the workshop had the opportunity to hear about
biodiversity research presently ongoing in various African countries, meet the
scientists who are conducting this research, learn about
advances in computer and information technology relevant to
biodiversity research, networks that have
been established to facilitate research in Africa, build
research collections and other key biodiversity research
infrastructure, plan research
collaborations, and learn about opportunities for funding biodiversity research
in Africa.
Workshop Organizers:
Henry L. Bart Jr., Tulane University Museum of Natural History
Paul Skelton,
The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
