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

生物基础设施部和国际科学与工程办公室的这一联合奖项支持加纳开普敦海岸大学(UCC)本科生研究经验计划的继续。该REU网站计划重点关注热带地区的生态、生物多样性和保护生物学。夏季期间，来自美国大学的学生将在加州大学伯克利分校待6周，在加纳科学家的指导下从事明确的研究项目。在此授奖期间(2007-2010)，共有12名学生将参加该项目。该计划有两个主要研究重点：i)潜在有用植物的生物勘探和ii)生态和生物多样性研究。参与者将与他们的导师合作设计实验，收集和分析他们的数据，并在加纳展示他们的结果。回到美国后，学生们将在地区和国家会议上发表演讲。现场地点将包括卡库姆国家森林和埃尔米纳海滩。参加者将学习民族植物学、热带生物学、水产养殖、生态学、昆虫学、分类学和分析化学方面的技能。预计他们将在同行评议的期刊上发表他们的结果。生态学研究将产生有关热带昆虫和植物物种的新的有价值的信息，这些信息可能还没有在文献中描述。该项目收集的数据还将有助于对潜在濒危物种和整个保护研究进行清查。参与者将有一次无价的跨文化体验。欲了解更多信息，请访问http://www.honors.ufl.edu/ucc/，或发送电子邮件至dawubah@ufl.edu联系丹尼尔·乌巴。

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.