ATBC Chapters
ATBC Chapters connect members across regions to support year-round engagement in tropical biology and conservation. These local and regional networks foster collaboration, organize events, and create space for ongoing exchange between researchers, students, and practitioners. Explore this page to learn more about our active chapters and how to get involved.
Many ATBC members and their affiliates in Africa have voiced a need to network with students, scientists, and conservation practitioners working in tropical Africa and its surrounding islands. After the successful joint meeting between ATBC and the Africa section of SCB in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2011, the call for a more organized approach grew stronger over the years. Eventually, a select few individuals, supported strongly by the ATBC council, developed preliminary ideas towards the establishment of the ATBC Africa Chapter.
During the annual meeting of ATBC in Hawaii in 2015, the Africa Chapter started to develop in order to (i) encourage the involvement and representation of African scientists within the association and, (ii) promote tropical biology and conservation on the continent. To establish the chapter on formal grounds, an official meeting was held at the ATBC meeting in Montpellier, 2016, and the Chapter was launched after the endorsement of the ATBC Council.
Africa is a continent that is as diverse in its people as it is in its landscapes, floral and faunal diversity and geography. For the purpose of clarifying the physical boundaries of this chapter, we have proposed that all countries under the tropical climatic regime in sub-Saharan Africa be considered as part of this chapter. This includes the island nations of Cape Verde, Principe and Sao Tome, Madagascar, Reunion, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Comoros.
It is important that we also provide a distinction about the validity of the African continent in atlases and maps of this unique continent. This link shows the accurate size of the continent and serves as a prime example of the implications of Africa’s true size on its people, the cultures, the diversity of life, and its political juxtaposition: Cartography: The true size of Africa | The Economist
The goals of the Africa Chapter are to:
The objectives of the Chapter are as follows:
For any question related to this Chapter, please email africa.atbc@gmail.com
The ATBC Neotropical Chapter inaugural activity for 2019 was the Webinar series: Bridging Academia and Conservation. This series featured five prominent speakers who stand out by their contributions to the field of Tropical Biology and Conservation: Brigitte Baptiste (Colombia), Robin Chazdon (USA), Rodolfo Dirzo (Mexico, USA), Lúcia Lohmann (Brazil), and Yadvinder Malhi (UK) (see flyer below). Click here for speakers bios. During this Webinar, our speakers presented their research and shared their personal experience in working beyond academia to impact environmental conservation and society.
In 2020, the Neotropical Chapter held a special webinar in conjunction with the ESA Latin American Chapter entitled “The Future of Biodiversity in Latin America & the Caribbean”. Further details from this webinar can be viewed here .
