During a two-day symposium, participants shared their exciting research findings with topics ranging from environmental DNA (eDNA) in biomonitoring and conservation to various fish species' taxonomy and genetic diversity.
Marine and coastal fisheries contribute significantly to Africa’s economy and play significant social and nutritional roles in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, escalating numerous pressures, including overexploitation, climate change and pollution, immensely threaten African marine biodiversity and fisheries. For example, coral reefs in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) suffered a dramatic loss of live coral cover and a 2.5-fold increase in algal abundance following the first severe global bleaching event in 1998. Consequently, the structure of associated fish communities has changed in many coastal regions of the WIO, but quantitative data on the impact of these changes are scarce.
A fish photo was taken and ready for analysis using ImageJ and MorFishJ.
There is strong scientific interest in identifying drivers of change and deducing whether these causes are related to evolutionary constraints (i.e., can phylogenetic relatedness explain observed biodiversity patterns). To address gaps in monitoring marine and coastal systems in Africa, Far-LeaF research fellow Dr Levy Otwoma, together with his counterparts Dr Achim Meyer, Dr Sonia Bejerano, and Professor Oscar Puebla from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, organised a workshop on Fish Barcoding and Functional Ecology to enhance the monitoring of the status of marine and coastal systems in Africa.
The workshop, which the Volkswagen Foundation funded, focused on compiling and sharing both theoretical knowledge and practical laboratory skills and attracted 25 participants from 11 countries - Belgium, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
Population connectivity information in managing marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Western Indian Ocean is very important. MPAs in the WIO can reverse climate change and human-induced stressors on coral reefs, but they should be created to match the dispersal capability of the protected species. Stakeholders in the WIO yearning for a network of MPAs also need to ensure that these protected areas are linked to each other, to ensure the source and sink populations of vulnerable species are protected.
Participants on the last day of the in-person training at KMFRI dolphin conference hall, Mombasa, Kenya.
The four-week workshop combined an online format (two weeks) with ten days of in-person training at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, between the 3rd and 14th of October—the in-person part involved training the participants to use the software MorFishJ and ImageJ to characterise fish morphology. In addition, participants were trained on tissue preservation for molecular analysis, different DNA extraction methods, DNA amplification through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and molecular data handling and analysis methods. During a two-day symposium, participants shared their exciting research findings with topics ranging from environmental DNA (eDNA) in biomonitoring and conservation to various fish species’ taxonomy and genetic diversity. Additionally, participants also heard dynamic talks from various keynote speakers who included Professor Oscar Puebla (ZMT), Dr Sonia Bejarano (ZMT), Dr Levy Otwoma (KMFRI), Dr Achim Meyer (ZMT), Dr Sammy Wambua (Pwani University) and Dr Monica Mwale (SANBI- South African National Biodiversity Institute).
Article submitted by Levy Otwoma
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