The lowland tropical forests of western and central Africa are the second largest block of contiguous tropical forest in the world and house an incredible amount of avian diversity. However, compared to Amazonian forests, their diversity has been quite understudied. This lecture will attempt to answer several vital questions about the African lowland forests: Are they cradles or museums for avian biodiversity? What are the mechanisms contributing to the creation and maintenance of African tropical diversity? Is there potential for the discovery of new, cryptic species in these forests? And what role do natural history collections play in answering these questions?
Dr. Jerry W. Huntley is a Frank M. Chapman Research Fellow in the Ornithology Department at the American Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on questions involving the systematics and biogeography of avian (and some mammalian) species in the Afrotropics.