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Africa boasts high biodiversity while also being home to some of the largest and fastest-growing human populations. Although the current environmental footprint of Africa is low compared to other continents, the population of Africa is estimated at around 1.5 billion inhabitants, representing nearly 18% of the world's total population. Consequently, Africa's rich biodiversity is under threat, yet only 19% of the landscape and 17% of the seascape are under any form of protection. To effectively address this issue and align with the Convention on Biological Diversity's ambitious '30 by 30' goal, which seeks to protect 30% of the world's land and oceans by 2030, substantial funding and conservation measures are urgently required. In response to this critical challenge, as scientists and conservationists working in Africa, we propose five recommendations for future directions aimed at enhancing biodiversity conservation for the betterment of African society: (i) accelerate data collection, data sharing and analytics for informed policy and decision-making; (ii) innovate education and capacity building for future generations; (iii) enhance and expand protected areas, ecological networks and foundational legal frameworks; (iv) unlock creative funding channels for cutting-edge conservation initiatives; and (v) integrate indigenous and local knowledge into forward-thinking conservation strategies. By implementing these recommendations, we believe Africa can make significant strides towards preserving its unique biodiversity, while fostering a healthier society, and contributing to global conservation efforts.This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'Bending the curve towards nature recovery: building on Georgina Mace's legacy for a biodiverse future'.

The Plectranthinae clade, which includes genera such as Plectranthus, Ocimum, and Aeollanthus, is well known for its diverse array of diterpenoids. While numerous studies have deepened the understanding of diterpene diversity across the clade, Aeollanthus species remain underexplored, with only two studies focusing on their diterpene profiles. The NMR-based chemical profiling of the EtOAc leaf extract of the rocky and succulent species Aeollanthus buchnerianus Briq. reveals a range of diterpenes with isopimarane and abietane skeletons including several previously unreported analogues. Interestingly, the isolated compounds provided insights into the breakdown patterns of both diterpene classes by examining the product ions in their MS2 spectra. These data offer valuable information for evaluating the taxonomic position of this species in relation to other species within the clade., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Perennial herbs of seasonal climates invest carbon into belowground storage organs (e.g. rhizomes) to support growth when photosynthetic acquisition cannot cover demands. An alternative explanation interprets storage allocation as surplus carbon that is undeployable for growth when plants are limited by nutrients/water. We analysed relative investments to rhizomes to see to which of these explanations they align, and asked whether they scale with biomass of aboveground organs in individual species and whether clonal growth traits, phenology or environmental conditions explain investment among populations or species. We measured biomass of rhizomes, aboveground stems and leaves in 20 temperate herbaceous perennial species, each at two localities, establishing allometric relationships for pairs of organs. We correlated relative rhizome investment with clonal traits, environmental gradients and phenology, across species. For pairs of organs, biomass typically scales isometrically. Interspecific allocation differences are largely explained by phenology. Neither interspecific nor intraspecific differences were explained by clonal traits or environment. Storage organs of perennial herbs do not comprise deposition of carbon surplus, but receive greater allocation in capital breeders (early-flowering), than among income breeders (late-flowering) relying on acquisition during growing season. Capital and income breeders in plants deserve further examination of benefits/costs., (© 2024 The Author(s). New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Global biodiversity is under accelerating threats, and species are succumbing to extinction before being described. Madagascar's biota represents an extreme example of this scenario, with the added complication that much of its endemic biodiversity is cryptic. Here we illustrate best practices for clarifying cryptic diversification processes by presenting an integrative framework that leverages multiple lines of evidence and taxon-informed cut-offs for species delimitation, while placing special emphasis on identifying patterns of isolation by distance. We systematically apply this framework to an entire taxonomically controversial primate clade, the mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus, family Cheirogaleidae). We demonstrate that species diversity has been overestimated primarily due to the interpretation of geographic variation as speciation, potentially biasing inference of the underlying processes of evolutionary diversification. Following a revised classification, we find that crypsis within the genus is best explained by a model of morphological stasis imposed by stabilizing selection and a neutral process of niche diversification. Finally, by clarifying species limits and defining evolutionarily significant units, we provide new conservation priorities, bridging fundamental and applied objectives in a generalizable framework., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The chemical investigation of the methanol extract of the roots of Caloncoba lophocarpa (Oliv.) Gilg. exhibited a new 30-norfriedelane triterpenoid, laphocarpanol ( 1 ), together with seven known compounds, caloncobalactone ( 2 ), friedelin ( 3 ), friedelanol (4 ), asperphernamate ( 5 ), stigmasterol ( 6 ), sitosterol ( 7 ) and sitosterol-3- O - β -D-glucopyranoside ( 8 ). The structures of the compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic and spectrometric analyses (1D and 2D NMR, ESI-MS) and by comparison with previously reported data. All the compounds were tested for their antifungal and antibacterial activities. Compound 1 displayed weak antibacterial effect with MIC value of 62.5 μg/mL against Shigella flexineri . All the isolates were found to be inactive against the tested fungal strains.