JRS Grantee the National Herbarium of Benin, located at the University of Abomey-Calavi continues to reach milestones in year two of  their  Mobilizing data for Identification, Taxonomy, Socioeconomic Importance and Conservation Assessment of Bryophytes in Benin project. Project Director Dr. Hospice Dassou details in the most recent reporting period that the team has successfully completed ethnobotanical surveys on traditional knowledge of the bryophytes and their local uses.  Through focus group discussions, individual surveys and participative observations, the team noted and discussed the local practices for sustainable management of bryophytes.

The team visited 26 municipalities of Benin and conducted 629 interviews on the identification and uses of bryophytes to determine their socioeconomic importance.

Also during this period, Dr Dassou along with the team’s PhD students Ghislain KPETIKOU, and Gafarou AGOUNDE attended the 2025 Association for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Tropical Africa (AETFAT) Congress in Accra, Ghana. Both students made oral presentations at the congress titled Current knowledge and future perspectives on the taxonomy, systematics, and diversity of West African bryophytes and A systematic review on Western African bryophytes: current knowledge and prospects for their long-term conservation. Their abstracts were accepted for presentations at the IX Colloque des Sciences, Cultures et Technologies, which took place in September 2025 at the University of Abomey-Calavi.

Read more about the Mobilizing data for Identification, Taxonomy, Socioeconomic Importance and Conservation Assessment of Bryophytes in Benin here.