Interest in the biology of African 'wetlands' was initiated in the last
century with the hypothesis that Lake Tanganyika was once part of a
Jurassic sea, and was furthered by Cunnington's expedition at the
beginning of this century which proved that it was not. In the late
1920's, ecological studies, encouraged by the growing importance of
inland fisheries, were started hy British, French and Belgian
biologists. Some twenty years later several government limnological
research centres and fishery departments were established in tropical
Africa, and scientific progress was accelerated. Scientific
collaboration between the regions south of the Sahara was started
formally in 1951 by the Scientific Council for Africa and stimulated by
the International Biological Programme (1964-74) with its emphasis on
biological productivity. Some of its interests were takcn on by SCOPE
which recently selected continental wetlands as a Special Project; hence
this book. The five authors, with-Patrick Denny as editor, have made a
very valuable contribution both to science and to thc management of
Africa's natural rcsourccs: thcy have filled a gap in the synthesis of
knowledge about Africa's environments which is long overdue. The term
'wetland' is used today in several different contexts. For this purpose,
it excludes the seas and large open inland waters. which are too deep
for rooted plants, but includes the huge areas of floodplains and dambos
which may change seasonally from standing water to very dry lands.
