NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The University of New Orleans will receive a grant of more than $966,000 from the National Science Foundation for its role in a project to conserve biodiversity in central African rainforests.

Nicola Anthony, UNO associate professor of biological sciences, is a co-principal investigator on the project, along with Mary Katherine Gonder of the State University of New York at Albany. Thomas Smith of the University of California Los Angeles is the principal investigator. The project also involves partners from Gabon, Cameroon, Germany, Britain and elsewhere in the United States.

More than 150 scientists will engaged in a common research program that seeks to identify top areas for conservation where the capacity for species to either move or adapt to changing climate is greatest.