Paia Angobo, southeast coast, Sao Tome.
	View southeast from met station, Logoa Amelia, Sao Tome.
	The largest interdisciplinary team yet to survey the Gulf of Guinea Islands includes Academy experts: Team Member   Department Robert C. Drewes Jens Vindum Ricka E. Stoelting Tomio Iwamoto Charles D. Griswold Norman D. Penny Joel Ledford Sarah Spaulding Douglas Long Dong Lin Fabio Penny   Herpetology Herpetology Herpetology* Ichthyology Entomology Entomology Entomology* Invertebrate Zoology Mammalogy/Ornithology Photographer Computer Services *Student, San Francisco State

DISPATCHES FROM AFRICAN ISLANDS

Join Academy scientists as they search for bats, snakes, lizards, frogs, insects, and spiders on the islands of São Tomé and Principé in Africa's Gulf of Guinea. The team of specialists will post their latest adventures and discoveries from the Islands on the Science NOW web site throughout April and May.

1		We Begin
2		Now We Are Eight
3		Off To Principe
4		Scorpions, Celebrities and Antlions
5		More Rains, Fewer Planes
6		Back on the Mountian
7		Diatoms, Snakes, Tarantulas, and Dinner
8		Maria das Neves Batista de Sousa, Minister of the Economy
9		Six People, Three Directions
10		A Visit to Pico do Príncipe
		Photos from the Field - updated 05.30.01

About 200 miles off the western coast of Africa, near the equator, lie a chain of volcanic tropical islands teeming with biological diversity. Despite the proximity of the islands to mainland Africa and nearly 500 years of Portuguese colonization, the animals here have gone largely unstudied.

To address this void, a team of experts from the Academy will will document the divesity of everything from mammals to diatoms, or tiny planktonic algae, to conduct the first complete survey of two of the islands, São Tomé and Principé. The multidisciplinary team will search for animals in as many habitats and locations as possible, from the central mountains and inland streams to the coast.

After identifying both recognized and new species, the team will compare the collection to that of a previous Academy trip to the nearby island of Bioko to see what species the islands have in common and help determine how small, isolated populations of these species have evolved.

Academy Links
Gulf of Guinea Islands Biodiversity Project
http://www.calacademy.org/research/guinea_islands/

WWW Links
World Factbook
Africa South of the Sahara
African Studies Center University of Pennsylvania
United Nations House - São Tomé e Principé
Lonely Planet
World Desk Reference
World Species List - São Tomé and Principé

Partners
The Gulf of Guinea Islands Biodiversity Project is undertaken in cooperation with ECOFAC and STeP UP.

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