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Alex Asase [BSc, PhD (Ghana)]

Alex Asase [BSc, PhD (Ghana)]
Professor
aasase@ug.edu.gh

PROFILE

Dr. Asase is Professor and Head of the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology at the University of Ghana. He was awarded both his BSc and PhD degrees in Botany from the University of Ghana in 1999 and 2004, respectively. He started his career as a Lecturer in the then Department of Botany at the University of Ghana in 2005. By dint of hard work, he rose through the ranks to the grade of Professor in the year 2020. He also holds an Adjunct Researcher position at the Biodiversity Institute in the University of Kansas. He was previously an academic visitor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER) at University of Reading in the United Kingdom.   

Dr. Asase has published extensively and his contributions to scientific knowledge have been disseminated in many internationally reputed journals. He has also attended many national and international conferences and workshops where he has disseminated the findings of his research work. Some of the major funders of his research projects are the JRS Biodiversity Foundation (USA) and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; Denmark). He received the prestigious UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme Young Scientist Award in 2010.

Dr. Asase has also served on various committees and boards at the University of Ghana as well as on a number of national and international committees. He is also a member of several professional societies and serves as a member of editorial board of the Journal of Herbal Medicine. He is the manager of the Ghana node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and a member of the advisory board of the Biodiversity Informatics Training Curriculum (BITC II). He is also a regular reviewer for many national and international journals.

RESEARCH INTEREST

  • Medicinal and food plants
  • Conservation and climate change
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Biodiversity data mobilization and use

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

  • Systematic Botany
  • Ethnobotany / Ethnopharmacology
  • Ecology / Agroecology
  • Biodiversity informatics
  • Conservation Science

TEACHING

  • BOTN 654: Practical and Applied Taxonomy
  • BOTN 653: Taxonomic Data
  • BOTN 655: Angiosperm Systematics I (Dicots)
  • BOTN 656: Angiosperm Systematics II (Gymnosperms and Monocot)
  • BOTN 400: Project Work
  • BOTN 419: Advanced Plant Taxonomy
  • BOTN 414: Economic Botany
  • BOTN 322: Biology of Lower Plant
  • BOTN 314: Taxonomic and Evolution of Seed Plants
  • PEBO 202: Statistics for Biologists

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

  • Biodiversity Information Standards / Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG)
  • Society for Economic Botany
  • Society for Conservation Biology
  • International Society of Ethnopharmacology
  • Ghana Science Association

SELECTED ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

  1. Asase, A., Jimenez-Garcia, D., and Peterson, A. T., 2021 Effects of climatic change on the potential geographic distribution of the threatened West-Central African endemic genus, Talbotiella. African journal of Ecology, 59:479- 488.
  2. Asase, A., Sainge, M. N, Radji, R, Ugbogu, O. A., and Peterson, A.T, 2020. A new model for efficient, need-driven progress in generating primary biodiversity information resources. Application in Plant Sciences, 8(1): e11318. DOI: 10.1002/aps3.11318.
  3. Bekoe, O. E., Agyare, C., Boakye, D. Y., Baiden, M. B, Asase, A., Sarkodie, J., Nettey, H., Adu, F., Otu, B. P., Agyarkwa, B., Amoateng, P., Asiedu-Gyekye, I, and Nyarko, A., 2019. Ethnomedicinal survey and mutagenic studies of plants used in Accra Metropolis, Ghana.  Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 248:112309.
  4. Peterson, A. T., Asase, A., Canhos, D. A., de Souza, S., and Wieczorek, J. 2018. Data leakage and loss in biodiversity informatics. Biodiversity Data Journal, 6: e26826.
  5. Adeniyi, A., Asase, A., Ekpe, P. K., Asitoakor, B. K., Adu-Gyamfi, A., and Avekor, P. Y., 2018. Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants from Ghana; confirmation of ethnobotanical uses, and review of biological and toxicological studies on medicinal plants used in Apra Hills Sacred Grove. Herbal Medicine, 14: 76-87.
  6. Agyare, C., Spiegler, V., Asase, A., Scholz, M., Hempel, G., and Hensel, A. 2018. An ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants traditionally used for cancer treatment in the Ashanti region, Ghana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 212: 137-152.
  7. Asase A., and Peterson, A. T., 2016. Completeness of digital accessible knowledge of the plants of Ghana. Biodiversity Informatics 11:1-11.
  8. Asase, A., Tetteh, D. A and Ofori-Frimpong, K., 2016. Tree diversity, carbon stocks and soil nutrients in cocoa-dominated and mixed food crops agroforestry systems compared to natural forest in southern Ghana. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 40: 96-113.
  9. Solberg, J., Asase, A., Akwetey, G., and Jäger, A., 2015. Historical versus contemporary medicinal plant uses in Ghana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 160:109 -132.
  10. Agyare, A., Spiegler, V., Sarkodie, H., Asase, A., Liebau, E., and Hensel, A., 2014. An ethnopharmacological survey and in vitro confirmation of the ethnopharmacological use of medicinal plants as anthelmintic remedies in the Ashanti region, in the central part of Ghana, Journal of Ethnopharmacology 158: 255-263.
  11. Hirons, M., Hilson, G., Asase. A., and Hodson. M. E., 2014. Mining in a changing climate: what scope for forestry-based legacies. Journal of Cleaner Production 84: 430-438.
  12. Asase, A., Asiatoakor, B. K., and Ekpe, P. K., 2012. Linkages between tree diversity and carbon stocks in unlogged and logged West African tropical forests. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services and Management 8: 217-230.
  13. Norris, K. Asase, A., Collen, B., Gockowksi, J., Mason, J., Phalan, B., and Wade, A., 2010. Biodiversity in a forest-agriculture mosaic-the changing face of West African rainforests. Biological Conservation 143: 2341-2350.
  14. Wade, A. S. I., Asase, A., Hadley, P., Mason, J., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Preece, D., Spring, N. and Norris, K., 2010. Management strategies for maximising carbon storage and tree species diversity in cocoa-growing landscapes. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 138: 324-334.
  15. Asase, A., and D. A. Tetteh, 2010. The role of complex agroforestry systems in the conservation of forest tree diversity and structure in southeastern Ghana. Agroforestry Systems, 79:355-368.
  16. Asase, A., Akwetey, G. A., and Achel, D. G., 2010. Ethnopharmacological use of herbal remedies for the treatment of malaria in the Dangme West District of Ghana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 129:367-376.
  17. Asase, A. and Oppong-Mensah, G., 2009. Traditional antimalarial phytotherapy remedies in herbal markets in southern Ghana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 126: 492-499.
  18. Agyare, C., Asase, A., Lechtenberg, M., Niehues, M., Deters, A., and Hensel, A., 2009. An ethnopharmacological survey and in vitro confirmation of ethnopharmacological use of medicinal plants used for wound healing in Bosomtwi-Atwima-Kwanwoma area, Ghana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 125: 393-403.
  19. Asase, A., Kokubun T., Grayer, R.J., Kite, G., Simmonds, M.S.J., Oteng-Yeboah, A.A., and Odamtten, G.T., 2008. Chemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of medicinal plants from Ghana: Cassia sieberiana, Haematostaphis barteri, Mitragyna inermis and Pseudocedrela kotschyi. Phytotherapy Research 22: 1013-1016.
  20. Asase, A., Oteng-Yeboah, A. A., Odamtten, G. T., and Simmonds, M. S. J., 2005. Ethnobotanical study of some Ghanaian anti-malarial plants. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 99: 273-279.