Dr. Jacob Ulzen
University of Ghana
Natalija Gormalova
We headed out with expedition lead Dr. Jacob Ulzen, a professor at the University of Ghana, to sample along Ghana’s dramatic coastlines and dense tropical rainforests.
The SPUN team landed in Accra, Ghana’s capital city on the coast. Humidity and heat are extreme, and we headed out to the Cape Coast. Just above the high tide line we were greeted by two-meter-high sandbanks, created as sea level rise and coastal erosion eat away Ghana’s edges – Ghana’s 550km coastline loses 2 meters every year.
Visible in the sandbanks are layers of plastic debris, and we sampled the plastic strewn sand at the roots of trees to see how microplastics might be affecting the fungi that support these ecosystems. Scientists have begun to observe microplastics in fungal hyphae, and it is hypothesized that this could limit the fungi’s ability to transport nutrients and water. (Leifheit, Lehmann & Rillig, 2021)
Along the coastlines we watched young fishermen pulling massive nets from the water using rhythmic song to synchronize their motions. We jumped in and helped pull for a while – it was hot, difficult work.
Then we headed north to Ankasa Conservation Area. Forest Service guards guided us past rubber and palm oil plantations, in search of old growth forest. On the way, we visited Cape Three Points Coastal Reserve, where on a sampling trek passing an old growth mahogany stand we found our path blocked by three massive mahogany trees that had been cut down by wood poachers hours before.
Amongst the old growth trees we saw elephant prints, and were amazed by the variety of butterflies that flitted through their branches.
From here we headed to more forest, Kakum Forest Reserve, where we slept in a treehouse high above the forest floor and woke before dawn to walk over the forest canopy on suspension bridges.
After sampling in the rainforest we headed to Kumasi, where we were joined by SPUN team member Dr. Bethan Manley, who co-led the Africa Mycorrhizal Mapping and Metagenomics Workshop with JR Biotek and CSIR - Crops Research Institute. We hope to contribute to the work of organizations who are building research capacity in Africa, so that we can learn much more about the continent’s mycorrhizal biodiversity in the years to come.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.svg)
