For the third edition, the international congress on biodiversity of the Guiana Shield is taking place at Paramaribo, in Suriname, from August 5th to 8th, 2013.
The objective of this conference is to identify impacts of economic development within the Guiana shield on the environment and to define measures to reach real green development within the region. The main challenge is to set up a collaborative approach between the six countries that are concerned: Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.
It is expected that around 300 participants will take part in the discussions: scientists among whom sociologists, players of conservation, companies, public institutions, etc.
Two members of the CEBA will be there in Paramaribo: Antoine Fouquet (researcher at the CNRS Guyane) and Dawn Frame (researcher at the Cayenne Herbarium, within the Amap laboratory). They will present the research programs in which they are involved.
Antoine Fouquet will expose his work on amphibians of the Eastern Guiana Shield. He will present an overview on the diversity of these amphibians: he will underline the actual underestimation of the number of species and of the level of endemism. He will also highlight the vulnerability of these species in reaction to global change. At last, Antoine Fouquet will introduce the amphibian part of the Phyloguianas project, which is financed by the CEBA. Within this project, sampling will provide more precise knowledge on the genetic structure of amphibians in the region.
Rainette de Spix © Antoine Fouquet
Dawn Frame will present the ‘checklist of the trees of French Guiana’ which is being finalised and the methodology that is used. This list will provide a rigorous inventory of the different tree species that are present in French Guiana. To do this, in collaboration with the botanists of Amap, Dawn Frame uses 25 years of field experience and observation, as well as collected data on over 75 000 trees.
This ‘checklist of the trees of French Guiana’ can be used for evaluation and protection of local biodiversity, estimation of resources and their exploitation. It will also provide public information for use in education and awareness campaigns.
Plant collection on the field © IRD / S. Gonzalez
For more information on the congress: http://www.biodiversitycongress.org/
