• Lowland rain forest with
savanna and gallery forest in the north.
• Ogooué River.
• Forest elephant*,
• western lowland gorilla*,
• chimpanzee*,
• mandrill*,
• forest buffalo,
• grey-cheeked mangabey,
• leopard,
• black colobus.
Since 1989.
Gabon National Parks Office, Gabon Ministry of Water and Forests, International Center for Medical Research (CIRMF), Missouri Botanic Garden, University of Stirling.
Without true understanding of the functioning
of an ecosystem, we cannot hope to design effective conservation
for it.
Name : Kate Abernethy
Title : Director, SEGC Lopé
Email:
kabernethy[AT SIGN]wcsgabon[DOT]org
Address :
Wildlife Conservation Society,
BP 7847,
Libreville,
Gabon.
For more information, see www.wcs.org/africa
Wildlife Conservation Society International
Conservation,
Africa Program,
2300 Southern Blvd.,
Bronx, NY 10460, USA
The Wildlife Conservation Society's International Conservation program saves wildlife and wild lands by understanding and resolving critical problems that threaten key species and large, wild ecosystems around the world.
• Site-based conservation
• Research
• Training and capacity-building
• New model development
• Informing policy
• Linking zoo-based and field-based conservation
Contributions to this project can be sent to the WCS Africa Program in NY (address above)
Residential accommodation
©Ruth
Starkey Office space
©Ruth
Starkey
The SEGC research Station (Station d’Etudes des Gorilles et des Chimpanzés) is located in the north of the Lopé National Park in Gabon. The Station was founded by the Gabonese International Center for Medical Research (CIRMF) in 1983 and run by CIRMF under Dr Caroline Tutin and Michel Fernandez until 2000. WCS have supported research projects at the Station since 1989 and now co-fund core operations in partnership with CIRMF. SEGC has one of the longest continuous histories of scientific research in the region. It has been carrying out pioneering ecological study and monitoring programs for over 20 years. The main focus of SEGC research during the 1980’s was Great Ape ecology. During the 1990’s the Station broadened its horizons to study general forest ecology, though still specializing in mammals. Today its multidisciplinary program includes archaeology, social studies, behavioral ecology, phylogeographic studies, taxonomic botany, plant inventory, genetics, biometry and conservation. Key results from SEGC research are:
SEGC has hosted more than 100 scientists and produced over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications, nine doctoral thesis studies, four Masters dissertation studies and over 30 degree-level studies to our global knowledge of Central African ecology.
The only threat to continuing world-class research is the lack of resources dedicated to it. Without true understanding of the functioning of an ecosystem, we cannot hope to design effective conservation for it.
Billy the elephant in the SEGC camp ©Ruth Starkey