Sydney Thony Ndolo Ebika
Other projects
15 Jan 2021
Assessing the Need for Wild Edible Mushrooms’ Conservation Actions in the Republic of Congo
20 May 2022
A Comparative Study on Natural Resources Management by Local Communities in Two Main Edible Mushroom Harvesting Localities in the Republic of Congo
Documentation of fungal diversity in general and wild edible fungi in the Republic of Congo started less than a decade ago. When working as a Botanist for the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park from 2006 to 2015, I found that local communities of Hunther-gatherers had tremendous knowledge of wild edible mushrooms compared to Settled farmers in the same localities. However, that knowledge which can contribute to preserving habitats, cultural identity of the Hunther-gatherers and promoting such information on natural resources for tourists arriving in the localities is still not fully documented despite changes to culture due to the influence of the society in which they live in. Recent Rufford projects that we conducted in the country revealed the threat of Gilbertiodendron forest for farming, extension of towns and building of new roads whereas such habitat is containing a high diversity of wild fungi in Northern Congo. In addition, other areas of the forest with mixed species of trees are also important for livelihoods of local populations but are threatened by unsustainable agricultural techniques. Thus, this project aims at (1) training local population and students in collecting macrofungi, (2) identifying important habitats for macrofungi in Hunther-gatherers’s area, (3) identifying the collected samples and (4) producing a bilingual (English-French) manual of wild edible mushrooms used by Hunther-gatherers with local names.
Cantharellus Xanthocyaneus Ndolo Ebika & Buyck, a new species described in 2020 from Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest in Makao. © Sydney T. Ndolo Ebika/ICPC.
By carrying out this project, the work will contribute in strengthening local capacities in studying and documenting wild fungi, improving knowledge on mycota at the national level and identifying sites of conservation importance for fungi and Hunther-gatherers. In terms of increasing human resources, the project will train two MSc students and two postgraduate students who will be able, at the end of the project, to make accurate field notes and specimens of fungi from an inventory and to use a microscope in order to find important microscopic features to key out a specimen to the species level and produce diagnoses of species in a format requested for taxonomic publications. Two local assistants will be trained in a long term monitoring of macrofungi in their area in order to collect information about species and places where they are harvested.