REU Site: Ecological, environmental and conservation biology studies in Ghana, West Africa

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

This joint award from the Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Office of International Science and Engineering supports the continuation of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. This REU site program focuses on ecology, biodiversity and conservation biology in the tropics. Students from US universities will spend six weeks at UCC during the summer working on defined research projects under the mentorship of Ghanaian scientists. A total of twelve students will participate in the program during this award period (2007-2010). This program has two main research foci: i) bioprospecting for potentially useful plants and ii) ecological and biodiversity studies. Participants will design experiments in collaboration with their mentors, collect and analyze their data, and present their results in Ghana. Upon their return to the US, students will make presentations at regional and national meetings. Field sites will include the Kakum National Forest and Elmina beach. Participants will acquire skills in ethnobotany, tropical biology, aquaculture, ecology, entomology, taxonomy and analytical chemistry. They will be expected to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals. The ecological studies will yield new and valuable information on tropical species of insects and plants that may not have been described in the literature yet. Data gathered in the project will also contribute towards an inventory of potentially endangered species and conservation studies as a whole. Participants will have an invaluable cross-cultural experience. More information is available at http://www.honors.ufl.edu/ucc/ or by contacting Daniel Wubah at dawubah@ufl.edu.