Biodiversity offers multiple opportunities for development and improving human well-being.

• Introduction
• Inventory of resources
• Species richness and endemism
• Centres of biodiversity
• Ecosystem change and conservation
• Endowments and opportunities
• Environmental goods
• Environmental services
• Nature-based tourism
• Further reading
• Figures
• Box 1

Biology Articles » Biodiversity » Biodiversity in Africa » Further reading

Further reading

- Biodiversity in Africa

• Balmford,A., Moore, J.L., Brooks, T., Burgess, N., Hansen, L. A., Williams, P. and Rahbek, C. (2001). Conservation conflicts across Africa. Science. 291, 2616-9.
• BirdLife International (undated). Action for Birds and People in Africa. The conservation programme of Birdlife International Africa Partnership 2004-2008. BirdLife International, Cambridge.
• Brooks,T. et al., 2001. Toward a blueprint for conservation in Africa. BioScience. 51(8), 613-24
• Burgess, N., D’Amico Hales, J., Underwood, E., and Dinerstein, E., 2004. Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar:A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington.
• Burgess, N.D. et al., 2005. Major gaps in the distribution of protected areas for threatened and narrow range Afrotropical plants. Biodiversity and Conservation. 14, 1877-94.
• Christ, C., Hillel, O.,Matus, S. and Sweeting, J., 2003. Tourism and Biodiversity:Mapping Tourism’s Global Footprint. Conservation International,Washington, D.C.
• CI, 2006. Biodiversity Hotspots. Conservation International Washington, D.C.
• CIFOR-Center for International Forestry Research.
• Costanza, R., et al., 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Science. 387, 253-60.
• Cowling, R.M., Rundel, P.W., Lamont, B.B., Arroyo, M.K., Arianoutsou, M., 1996. Plant diversity in Mediterranean-climate regions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 11(9), 362-6.
• Davis, S.D., Heywood,V.H., and Hamilton,A.C. (eds. 1994). Centres of plant diversity. A guide and strategy for their conservation.Vol. 1: Europe,Africa and the Middle East. IUCN Publications Unit, Cambridge.
• de Klerk, H.M., Crowe,T.M., Fjeldsa, J. and Burgess, N.D., 2002. Biogeographical patterns of endemic terrestrial Afrotropical birds. Diversity and Distributions. 8(3), 147-62.
• de Klerk, H.M., Fjeldsa, J., Blyth, S. and Burgess, N.D., 2004. Gaps in the protected area network for threatened Afrotropical birds. Biological Conservation. 117, 529-537.
• FAO-Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• FAOSTAT, 2005. FAOSTAT – FAO Statistical Databases. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
• Farnsworth, N.R. et al., 1985. Medicinal plants in therapy. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 63(6), 965-81.
• Fjeldsa, J. and Lovett, J.C., 1997. Geographical patterns of old and young species in African forest biota: the significance of specific montane areas as evolutionary centres. Biodiversity and Conservation. 6(3),325-46.
• Fjeldsa, J, Burgess, N.D., Blyth, S., and de Klerk, H.M., 2004. Where are the major gaps in the reserve networks for Africa’s mammals? Oryx. 38(1), 17-25.
• GAA, 2004. Global Amphibian Assessment Database. Global Amphibian Assessment. IUCN – the World Conservation Union.
• Goodman, S.M., 2004. Measures of Plant and Land Vertebrate Biodiversity in Madagascar. In Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar:A Conservation Assessment (eds. Burgess, N., D’Amico Hales, J., Underwood, E., and Dinerstein, E.), pp 71-2. Island Press, Washington
• Goodman, S.M. and Benstead, J.P. (eds. 2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Groombridge, B. and Jenkins, M., 2002. World Atlas of Biodiversity: Earth’s Living Resources in the 21st Century. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Hawkes, J.G. and Worede, M. (eds. 1991). Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• IEA, 2002. Chapter 13: Energy and Poverty. In World Energy Outlook 2002. International Energy Agency, Paris.
• Klopper, R.R., Smith, G.F. and van Rooy, J., 2002. The Biodiversity of Africa. In Rebirth of Science in Africa:A Shared Vision for Life and Environmental Sciences (eds. Biaijanath, H. and Singh,Y.), pp 60-86.Umdaus Press, Hatfield.
• Laird, S.A. (ed.), 2002. Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice. Earthscan, London.
• Lambert, J.D. H, Ryden P.A., Esikuri E.E., 2005. Capitalizing on the Bio-Economic Value of Multi-Purpose Medicinal Plants for the Rehabilitation of Drylands in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
• Lovelock, J.E., 1979. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• MA-Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
• Mutke, J., Kier, G., Braun, G., Schultz, C. and Barthlott,W., 2001. Patterns of African vascular plant diversity – a GIS based analysis. Systematics and Geography of Plants. 71, 1125-36
• Mutke, J. and Barthlott,W., 2005. Patterns of vascular plant diversity at continental to global scales. Biologiske Skrifter. 55, 521-537.
• Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B, Kent, J., 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature. 403 (6772), 853-8.
• O’Brien,T.G. and Kinnaird, M.F., 2003. Caffeine and conservation. Science. 300 (5619), 587.
• Poorter, L., Bongers, F., Kouamé, F.N. and Hawthorne,W.D. (eds. 2004). Biodiversity of West African Forests: an Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species. CABI Publishing, Oxon.
• Quensière, J. (ed. 1994). La pêche dans le Delta Central du Niger. IER/ORSTOM/Karthala, Paris.
• Rahbek, C., 1995. The elevational gradient of species richness: a uniform pattern? Ecography. 18, 200-5.
• Rates, S.M., 2001. Plants as source of drugs. Toxicon. 39 (5), 603-13.
• Rodrigues, A .S. L. et al., 2004. Global gap analysis: priority regions for expanding the global protected-area network. BioScience. 54(12), 1092-100.
• Scholes, R.J. and Biggs, R. (eds. 2004). Ecosystem Services in Southern Africa: a regional assessment. Council for S Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria.
• Scholes, R.J. and Biggs, R., 2005. A biodiversity intactness index. Nature. 434, 45-9. Available for download.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Middleton, N.J., 1994. Desertification: Exploding the Myth. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
• UNEP, 2002. Global Environment Outlook 3. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.
• UNEP, 2006. Africa Environment Outlook 2
• White, F., 1983. Vegetation of Africa – a descriptive memoir to accompany the Unesco/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of Africa. Natural Resources Research Report No. 20. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris
• WHO, 2003. Traditional Medicine. World Health Organization Fact Sheet No. 134. World Health Organization.