1. Botanical Sampling Gaps Across the Cameroon Mountains
- Author
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A. Townsend Peterson, David Kenfack, Moses N. Sainge, Felix Nchu, and Jean-Michel Onana
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,primary biodiversity data ,sampling gaps ,business.industry ,National park ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Environmental resource management ,Biodiversity ,Quantitative Evaluations ,mountains ,Biodiversity informatics ,Priority areas ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,Biodiversity hotspot ,Herbarium ,Geography ,Environmental protection ,lcsh:QH540-549.5 ,inventory completeness ,lcsh:Ecology ,biodiversity informatics ,business - Abstract
With the emergence of a new field, biodiversity informatics, an important task has been to evaluate completeness of biodiversity information that is existing and available for various countries and regions. This paper offers a first and very basic assessment of sampling gaps and inventory completeness across the Cameroon Mountains. Because digital accessible knowledge is severely limited for the region, we relied on qualitative evaluations of inventory completeness, supplemented by large amounts of data from the National Herbarium of Cameroon (YA) database. Detailed botanical inventories have been developed for Mt Cameroon, the Kupe-Mwanenguba Mountains, Mt Oku, and the Mambila Plateau, leaving substantial geographic and environmental coverage gaps corresponding to Rumpi Hills, Mt Nlonako, Kimbi Fungom National Park, Bali and Bafut Ngemba, Mt Bamboutos, Kagwene, and Tchabal Mbabo. This paper provides a roadmap for a comprehensive botanical survey for this region. Completing this survey plan, the resulting data will allow researchers to track changes in biodiversity and identify priority areas for conservation on the various mountain ranges that make up this important biodiversity hotspot.
- Published
- 2017