KU NEWS SERVICE

LAWRENCE — Growing up in Liberia during that country’s brutal 14-year civil war, Benedictus Freeman and his family fled into the rainforest, where they survived for years eating bush meat and foraging. The rainforest provided Freeman sustenance and protection — but more than that, the experience ignited a passion in him for understanding and preserving nature.

“At that time, I really didn’t know how important the forest would become for me — I saw the forest as a source of resources like food and shelter,” said Freeman, who today is a doctoral student in ecology & evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and KU Biodiversity Institute. “But I developed an interest in nature there, and eventually I started studying forestry for my undergraduate degree. That actually influenced my decision to get more interested in nature and conservation.”

The rainforests that once protected Freeman and his family host one of West Africa’s flagship bird species — the White‐breasted Guineafowl (Agelastes meleagrides). Now, Freeman is lead author of a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Avian Research that projects the geographic distribution of the bird through 2050 as it shifts habitat due to climate change.

“This bird is endemic to West Africa, but it’s not fully understood — it’s poorly studied,” Freeman said. “Because of this poor history, there’s very little understanding about its range. Our study recharacterizes its distribution and helps us to understand to what extent it’s distributed across the region. The bird is threatened, and it’s of conservation concern. So that’s why it was selected for study.”

According to Freeman, the vulnerable White-breasted Guineafowl, which has appeared on Liberian postage stamps, serves as an iconic “flagship species,” conservation of which could preserve habitat of many lesser-known animals at the same time.

The KU researcher said West Africa suffers from extensive deforestation due to increasing populations, urbanization, agriculture expansion (both substance farming and industrial-scale farming of palm oil), logging and mining. Because of its exclusive dependence on the forest for habitat, the White-breasted Guineafowl is particularly susceptible to habitat loss.

“It occurs within rainforest habitats in West Africa where it feeds like regular birds, like chickens feed, and depends on insects and seeds and things,” Freeman said. “The important thing about this bird is that it’s a specialist — it’s more restricted to rainforest habitats. There is a sister species (Black Guineafowl, Agelastes niger) of the same bird that occurs on the other side of the Guinean forest, but this one is range-restricted, and it’s only found in this region. It’s not going to be found anywhere else in the world.”

Freeman hopes his research predicting the distribution of the bird in coming decades can help inform policymakers about which areas of rainforest should be prioritized for conservation.

For the new paper, Freeman and his colleagues — Daniel Jiménez‐García of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico, Benjamin Barca of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Sierra Leone and Matthew Grainger of  Newcastle University in the United Kingdom — used occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and datasets about occurrences of the White-breasted Guineafowl in Sapo National Park in Liberia and Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone, including data collected by Freeman.

The authors used environmental datasets from NASA and other open sources to perform ecological niche modeling, which the researchers said “integrates known occurrences of species and environmental variables (e.g., temperature, precipitation) to characterize potential future geographic distributions of species in response to global climate change.”

The team created maps showing current and likely future habitats where the White‐breasted Guineafowl could migrate in response to a shifting climate. Unexpectedly, there was good news for the iconic bird in the findings: “The projected impacts of climate change on the geographic distribution of White-breasted Guineafowl were minimal, suggesting stability across the species’ range for the present and in the future, at least as regards climate change effects,” researchers said. “Low sensitivity to climate change in this species does match the general observation for West African birds.”

However, the team found coastal areas where the White‐breasted Guineafowl is found today would be degraded by sea-level rise and resulting coastal erosion, destroying some of the species’ range.

As for Freeman, this summer he’s back in Liberia conducting more fieldwork on birds in some of the same areas his team found to be suitable for the White-breasted Guineafowl.

“We were pleased to document populations at the sites where we worked, and then we were able to collect data on other bird species,” he said. “We have some interesting records that might be species not yet known to science, but we need to do some detailed studies.”

Freeman aims to finish his doctorate at KU next year, he said. After that, he’ll look for opportunities for postdoctoral work.

“I don’t know exactly where that’s going to be,” he said. “But I’m hoping that wherever I get a good job, I can have an opportunity to work in West Africa to do more research. There’s a huge capacity gap in that area. There’s a need to have homegrown scientists involved with this kind of research specifically. So, my passion is to work there.”

TOPEKA – The Kansas Republican Party announced Monday that it has hired Shannon Golden as its Executive Director. Golden comes to the Kansas Republican Party from Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle’s office. Golden was Senator Wagle’s Communications Director.

According to Michael Kuckelman, Kansas Republican Party Chair, the search for the Executive Director has been a four-month search and he looked at several candidates prior to deciding on Golden. “One of my priorities is to improve our messaging and I am convinced Shannon can deliver our message for us. In regard to her experience, “I have been impressed with Shannon in my interactions with the Senate. Shannon stood out in her ability and her professionalism.”

“I look forward to Shannon helping me lead the party. As Executive Director, Shannon will be responsible for the day to day operations of the KS GOP as well as working closely with me to develop strategy and policy leading into the 2020 elections.” – KS GOP Chairman Mike Kuckelman

“I’m looking forward to meeting with and working with Shannon. 2020 is going to be an important campaign cycle for Kansas Republicans. We’ll need to ensure we have a candidate and operation that can hold our all-important Senate seat. Team Marshall is wishing her well and standing by to help in any way we can.” – Congressman Roger Marshall

“National politics takes up all the oxygen, but state and local politics is where the differences are made. I’m glad to see that is where the party is focusing its efforts.” – Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt

“The Kansas Republican Party has made a wise choice with the hiring of Shannon as Executive Director. I’ve worked with Shannon for the last 2 sessions and I can attest to her political knowledge, work ethic, and ability to build coalitions. Congratulations to the KSGOP.” – Senator Jim Denning

“It is projected that there will be a record turnout of Kansas Republicans in the 2020 elections. The Kansas Republican Party has the ability to expand our supermajorities in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature in addition to taking back the 3rd Congressional District in the 2020 election” said Kansas Republican Party Executive Director Shannon Golden. “I look forward to working with the Kansas Republican Party team and Republicans across our state to make that a reality.”

– SUBMITTED –

KDA

MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture’s agricultural advocacy, marketing and outreach team is seeking talented Kansans to serve on the Marketing Advisory Board.

The mission of the KDA marketing division is to serve all Kansans through innovative programming and deliver solutions designed to create an environment that facilitates growth and expansion in agriculture while increasing pride in and awareness of the state’s largest industry — agriculture.

The Marketing Advisory Board will advise the program team on a variety of topics through the following sub-programs: agricultural business development, international agricultural development/trade, From the Land of Kansas, local foods and affiliated programs, agricultural workforce development and agricultural education.

Current board members include Bob Atkisson, retired farmer/rancher in Stockton.

If you are interested in applying to serve as a Marketing Advisory Board member, please submit a resume, statement of interest/cover letter and tax clearance confirmation PDF via email to Kerry Wefald, director of marketing, at [email protected]. For more details about the board and about the application process, go to agriculture.ks.gov/marketing-advisory-board. All questions can be directed to Kerry Wefald via email or by phone at 785-564-6758.

Applications are due by August 1, 2019, with the first organized board meeting of the fiscal year scheduled for Thursday, September 12, in Hutchinson at the Kansas State Fair.