Africa’s freshwater ecosystems are impacted by many threats due to climate change and several anthropogenic activities. In Côte d’Ivoire, the economy relies mostly on agriculture, which covers around 64% of the land surface. The study aimed to investigate Côte d’Ivoire fishermen’s perception of climate change, its drivers and other anthropogenic activities impacting freshwater fish biodiversity. The fish species locally threatened in the Ivorian freshwater ecosystems were also investigated. Face to face interviews and a structured questionnaire were used. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, means, and standard deviation, minimum and maximum. The multinomial logit regression was also applied to test factors that influence fishermen’s awareness and perception of climate change and their perception of change in fish abundance. The results show that around 72.7% of fishermen were aware of climate change. Decreases of precipitation (87.9%) and increases of temperature (76.1%) were observed by fishermen. Also, a significant decrease in fish quantity was observed by respondents. Climate change and anthropogenic activities such as gold mining, water withdrawal, use of small-mesh fishing nets, overfishing, industrial waste pollution, pesticides use for agricultural purposes along watersheds, obnoxious fishing practices and population growth, were highlighted as the main reasons for this decline. Species such as Lates niloticus, Heterotis niloticus, Parachanna obscura, Malapterurus electricus, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Tilapia zillii, Polpyterus endlicheri and Labeo coubie were listed by fishermen as locally threatened within Ivorian freshwater ecosystems. Actions and policies are needed to be taken by local authorities to ensure the sustainability of fisheries resources. The information obtained from this study constitutes a prerequisite for developing and implementing studies or policies aimed at mitigating and combating the negative effect of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the Ivorian freshwater ecosystem.

The objective of this study was to characterize the agro-morphological diversity of plantain accessions. 18 quantitative variables and 20 qualitative variables were measured. The results of the analysis of the qualitative variables revealed important traits such as black Sigatoka resistance of FHIA 21, Pita 3, M53, Calculta 4 and Banskii accessions and the firm fruit texture of Galeo, Kokor, French sombre and Corne 1 accessions. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) performed with the quantitative variables separated the 9 accessions into 4 groups with particular and important characteristics which can be exploited differently in genetic improvement programme according to the breeding objective. From these results, it appears clearly that the objective is achieved.Keywords: Sigatoka, qualitative variables, quantitative variables, genetic improvement.

Background. In Africa, it has been estimated that 50 million cattle and 70 million sheep and goats are at risk of animal African trypanosomiasis, and three million cattle die annually. Methods. This study was conducted in all the regions of The Gambia except Kombo Saint Mary Island (Banjul). Structured questionnaires were administered to 440 randomly selected livestock owners and 23 livestock assistants, and 7 focus group discussions were held for both livestock owners and livestock assistants. The data were analyzed mainly using descriptive statistics and content analysis methods. Results. A total of 94.5% and 75% of livestock owners reported having seen tsetse and horse flies, respectively, while 100% of livestock assistants reported having seen tsetse flies. Forty-seven percent of the livestock owners indicated a positive attitude toward control measures, while 42% of them had no idea how to control tsetse flies. On the other hand, 57% of livestock assistants believe that tsetse and horse flies are the main reasons why AAT is still in their community. There was a statistically significant difference between all the respondents’ characteristics and the practices done by livestock owners to prevent AAT vectors from biting their animals. Conclusion. This study shows that trypanosomiasis is still a major problem for livestock health and production in The Gambia, and it requires disease and vector control.

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Traditionally, population sizes, ecology, and threats to species and their habitats have been obtained by empirical scientific studies. However, the knowledge of local and indigenous communities worldwide has been acknowledged as an extremely rich and underused source of information on how the environment, biodiversity, and local conditions are changing over time. In this view, the objective of the study was to investigate local fishers’ knowledge of local names, habitats, uses, market price, change in population abundance, and threats faced by the snakehead fish (Parachanna obscura) in Ivorian freshwaters. The study was conducted using face‐to‐face interviews and a structured questionnaire with 381 fishers during the period from October 2020 to February 2021. The results show that this fish species is strongly appreciated for the good taste of its flesh, with market prices varying between 1.5 and 3€ on average. All respondents confirmed that the species is not yet produced in aquaculture and mentioned their willingness to support its introduction into aquaculture. Several local names of P. obscura fish were recorded, with ‘Sounôgô‐djêguê’ (used in 36% of fishers’ ethnic groups), ‘Pino’ (21%), and ‘Édjoué‐bile’ (21%) being the most popular names used in Ivorian fishers’ communities. All respondents agreed that P. obscura is a potamodromous fish species living preferably in wetlands, rivers, lakes, and streams. A significant decrease in the abundance of this fish was observed by 71% of fishers, perceived mainly due to overfishing, deforestation around watersheds, habitat destruction/modification, obnoxious fishing practices, pesticide use in farms close to watersheds, and climate change, especially lack of rainfall. The study clearly demonstrated the importance of local ecological knowledge of fishers in identifying threats to fish populations, habitat types used by the species, and other relevant information; therefore, this ecological knowledge has to be integrated into biomonitoring and conservation policy of aquatic biodiversity. The information obtained from this study is also helpful for future studies on the management and cultivation of this species.

Intraspecific morphological variation may reflect phenotypic plasticity or adaptive divergence. While adaptive shape divergence may occur more likely among isolated populations with reduced gene flow, phenotypic plasticity may reflect morphological responses to heterogeneous environments, even in spatially connected populations. We evaluated both processes while examining morphological variations among seven wild populations of snakehead fish (Parachanna obscura) along climate and habitat gradients in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. Morphological variations were studied by multivariate canonical variate analysis (CVA) as based on geometric morphometrics of 15 fish body landmarks. Correlations between shape variations among populations and climate and habitat characteristics and between morphological and geographic distances were calculated. We found significant morphological variations among the seven populations. The variations in fish shape were concentrated on landmarks related to swimming and feeding, suggesting a contribution of environmental variation to morphological differentiation. However, we did not detect significant effects of climate and habitat variables on fish shape. The trend between geographical and morphological distances was likewise not significant. Therefore, a mechanistic understanding of the factors causing shape variation among P. obscura populations in West Africa could not yet be achieved.

This work shows the effective trapping method used in catching Glossinidae and Tabanidae species and their distribution in The Gambia. One hundred and eight-six traps were used in this study comprising of 62 Biconical traps, 62 NGU traps and 62 Vavoua traps for 50 trapping days. These traps were baited with at least 4 months old cow urine and acetone and they were deployed at a distance of 100 m apart. A total number of 517 flies belonging to the genus Tabanidae and Glossinidae were captured. This included: Atylotus. agrestis (55%), Tabanus sourcouf (0.4%), Tabanus par (1.2%) and T. taeniatus (1.4%), Glossina morsitan submorsitan (26%) and Glossina palpalis gambiensis (16%). However, Atylotus agrestis and Glossina palpalis gambiensis were the species that were mostly caught in this study. The present study also shows that, Lower River Region was the region with the highest number of Tabanidae species caught (85 catches, mean=20.7 and SD=16.76) while Central River Region-North also had the highest catch of Glossinidae species (52 catches, Mean= 14 and Sd=6.98). Late rainy season (October 2020) and late dry season (April 2020) were the seasons in which the highest number of Tabanidae and Glossinidae species were caught respectively. This study clearly demonstrated that, Biconical trap is the most effective trap that can be used to control the population of both Glossinidae and Tabanidae species in The Gambia.