|
Robert at Rhoko with Deputy Director Claire Coulson |
Biodiversity surveys for several taxa is
part of our ongoing research at Rhoko. Butterfly diversity is a good
indicator of total diversity, because of direct dependence of butterfly
larvae on specific plants— often there might be a one plant/one species
relationship. Since butterflies are easy to survey, it is one of the
quickest ways of asse.ssing total diversity at a broad level.
Our butterfly surveys started at Rhoko
with a very preliminary look by the Wildlife Conservation Society as
part of their state wide biodiversity programme in 2005. Now we are very
lucky to have the help of Robert Warren, amateur butterfly enthusiast
resident in Nigeria. Robert has been assisting with butterfly surveys
under the direction of Torben B. Larsen, Fellow of the Royal
Entomological Society, renowned butterfly expert and author of the
definitive identification volume recently published on 'Butterflies of
West Africa'. In his first two visits he identified
220 species, including several outstanding records (3 are pictured
below). It is expected they will require approximately 60 days in the
field to properly assess the biodiversity of butterflies in this forest.
Dr. Oskar Brattström from Lund University in Sweden has also recently
joined the survey efforts and spent a week at Rhoko earlier this month -
he hopes to return again in future as part of his post doctoral
research. |
