Sunday is an emerging expert in the field of biodiversity informatics and has published data with The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and iNaturalist portals. He is on the faculty of Agricultural Sciences with the University of Abomey-Calavi and president of the NGO (non-governmental organization) SOS Biodiversity.

“For two years, I have participated in NMW,” Sunday said. “Through SOS Biodiversity, I count on bringing several nature lovers to the event.”

The French-speaking nation of Benin is located in West Africa on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea. A tropical nation with some 11.5 million people, Benin is an important exporter of cotton and palm oil.

Sunday noted that he managers a network of young African researchers and hopes some will bring NMW to their countries as well.

Sunday told us about himself:

“In 2013, I obtained my Agronomical Engineer diploma in natural resource management.  My engineering thesis focused on the theme “Structure, ecology and spatial distribution of Antiaris toxicaria Lesch. and Ceiba pentandra (L) Gaert in the forests of South Benin.”  This gave me a taste for research in forest ecology and inspired me to pursue doctoral studies. Thus, I signed up for a Master of Sciences that I obtained in 2015 still in the same faculty.  This diploma allowed me to register in 2017 for a Ph.D. in the same university under the supervision of the Laboratory of Forest Sciences (LSF). 

As a research assistant at LSF, I have conducted research and published several scientific articles in international journals.  My research in biodiversity conservation led me to discover the biodiversity informatics field. I have published several biodiversity data through GBIF and iNaturalist portals. I am currently a member of GBIF Benin and moderator of the IPT (Integrated Publishing Toolkit) of GBIF Benin.

My career is not that academic. My passion for the forest, ecology, biodiversity, and sustainable development, drove me to create September 2016 the NGO SOS Biodiversity . As president of this NGO, I work actively for the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of the environment.”

Mapping how species ranges are changing is key to proper biodiversity conservation and can act as an early warning system if a species might be in trouble. Is a species’ range expanding or contracting? If we don’t know this how can we make proper decisions regarding its conservation? This is where LepiMAP comes in. LepiMAP is an awesome Citizen Science project run jointly by the Lepidopterists Society of Africa (LepSoc) and the Animal Demography Unit, University of Cape Town. LepiMAP was launched in October 2013 and is the continuation of SABCA (the Southern African Butterfly Conservation Assessment).

LepiMAP aims to determine the distribution and conservation priorities of butterflies and moths on the African continent. Yes, you read correctly, LepiMAP is an Africa-wide project! We want butterfly and moth records from all over Africa! LepiMAP’s ultimate goal is the conservation of wild populations of butterflies and moths, and their habitats, in Africa. This entails educating and encouraging people to observe, appreciate, and understand the needs of living insects. LepiMAP is a section of the Animal Demography Unit’s Virtual Museum and is a database containing photographic records of butterflies and moths, together with the dates and places of occurrence.

This project represents an excellent opportunity to make your photography count for conservation. We are building up a huge database of photographs (along with the locality information) of butterflies and moths throughout Africa. LepiMAP is “phase 2” — in phase 1 we built up a database of almost 400 000 records of Lepidoptera distributions, so we have demonstrated that we can build distribution maps using this approach. Please help us build onto this database, and enable LepiMAP to produce the 21st century distribution maps for Africa’s Lepidoptera. Unless our knowledge of the ranges of species and how they are changing is based on solid evidence, conservation initiatives will only be based on anecdotes and the person with the loudest voice. So please do upload your photos of butterflies and moths to the LepiMAP database. The website at which you do the uploading is at http://vmus.adu.org.za/ — Join the conservation conversation. LepiMAP is a great way to involve the public in Lepidoptera conservation. Spread the news! Get your family and friends involved and let’s get out there and start LepiMAPping!!

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National Moth Week 2016 will be held from 23rd to 31st July. Anyone can participate.
Register a public or private event or find one to attend by checking the website for public events. Registration is free to individuals, groups and organizations.

LepiMap is a partner organization with NMW. For more about submitting moth observations click here. 

If you have questions or need more information – click here to contact us.

]]> https://nationalmothweek.org/2016/07/01/lepimap-the-atlas-of-african-lepidoptera-guest-post-by-megan-loftie-eaton-lepimap-project-coordinator/feed/ 0 9044 https://nationalmothweek.org/2012/08/23/guest-post-dino-martins-on-nmw-in-kenya/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=guest-post-dino-martins-on-nmw-in-kenya https://nationalmothweek.org/2012/08/23/guest-post-dino-martins-on-nmw-in-kenya/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:05:27 +0000 http://nationalmothweek.org/?p=3201 Guest post – Dino Martins on NMW in Kenya Read More »

Dino J. Martins is a Kenyan entomologist, and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. Dino participated in NMW in Kenya and blogged about it on his personal blog and on his National Geographic New Watch column.

Read about Dino’s mothing during NMW on National Geographic News Watch

Read Dudu Diaries – Dino’s blog about the world of insects.

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