TCHOCKANG Pauline Théophile

TCHOCKANG Pauline Théophile

A PhD student at the University of Douala, affiliated with the Laboratory of Biology and Physiology of Animal Organisms. Her research centers on amphibians’ diversity and conservation genetics in the Ebo Forest Massif, Littoral-Cameroon, under the co-direction of Pr. MISSOUP Alain Didier from the University of Douala and Dr. Nicolas POLLET from CNRS in France, she conducts her study.

Ebo forest is known by its biogeographical and its conservation interest due to his exceptional floristic and faunistic biodiversity. Despite this remarkable richness, the forest remains legislatively unprotected exposing several taxa to threats such as habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation, hunting and logging with amphibians in front of line. Amphibians are the most vulnerable animal taxa within vertebrate and the increased pressures on this group can lead to local extinction and mainly those having a high conservation interest. In order to improve knowledge about amphibians in the Ebo forest, we proposed to: (1) make an inventory and provide an updated list of amphibians of the Ebo forest; (2) document their diet and distribution; (3) assess the threats weighing on amphibians and lastly (4) raise awareness in community and policy makers for amphibians conservation and more particularly for the highly threatened species according to the IUCN red list of endangered species. Diurnal and nocturnal capture will be made in six sites (Bataba, Bekob, Ebo’oh, Iboti, Njuma) located within and around the Ebo forest during 6 sessions of 14 days of trapping per site. We expected to provide data on amphibian diversity and conservation status, their diet and their distribution.