earfbenin
Latest version published by PhytoKeys on 31 August 2021 PhytoKeys

Location earfbenin (Ewe-Adaklpame Relic Forest in Benin) covers 560.14 hectares in the Kétou District at the south-east of Benin Republic; latitude 07°27'59.195" N, longitude 002°34'29.395". The Relic Forest (EARF) is a micro-refugium that shows insular characteristics within the Dahomey Gap. It is probably one of the last remnants of tropical rain forest that would have survived the late Holocene dry period. Here we provide a comprehensive list of vascular plants of EARF, based on intensive field investigations through 25 plots (10 m × 50 m size) and matching of herbarium specimens, a checklist of 185 species of vascular plant belonging to 54 families and 142 genera is presented for this forest.

Physical conditions The forest relic is located at the north-east of the depression of "Co" or "Lama" on the plateaus of low altitude that evolved on the pre-Cambrian base rocks (Adjanohoun et al. 1989). The mean annual rainfall in the EARF is between 900–1300 mm (Adjanohoun et al. 1989; CARDER 2002; Adomou et al. 2006) which contrasts to other similar African dense semi-deciduous forests. The rainfall recorded in Upper Guinea is between 1750–1900 mm (Martin 2008) in Côte d'Ivoire (West Africa) and annual rainfall measured around the Kakamega rain forest in East Africa was approximately 2215 mm (Cords 1987) and 1956 mm (Greiner 1991). The landscape surrounding EARF is dominated by fallows, cultivation areas and housing. The vegetation is a mosaic of savanna. The total population of the villages of Ewe and Adakplame is 13,623 individuals with 2,078 households (INSAE 2016). The main activity is agriculture followed by hunting, livestock breeding and local commerce.

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Researchers should cite this work as follows:

HOUNGNON A (2021): earfbenin. v1.0. PhytoKeys. Dataset/Checklist. http://ipt.pensoft.net/resource?r=earfbenin&v=1.0

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Keywords

Benin Republic; Checklist; Dahomey Gap; Flora; Ewe; Adakplame; Kétou Distric; Range-restricted species; Refugial; Inventorythematic

Contacts

Who created the resource:

Alfred HOUNGNON
Association de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources (AGIR)
Carre 1869 maison quenum angele, fifadji yenawa
00 Cotonou
BJ
+22961077019

Who can answer questions about the resource:

Aristide Cossi ADOMOU
Associate Professor
Herbier National du Bénin
Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Abomey-Calavi, Littoral, BJ
Abomey-Calavi
BJ
Alfred Houngnon
Independant Researcher
Association de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources (AGIR)
Carre 1869 maison quenum angele, fifadji yenawa
00 Cotonou
BJ
+22961077019

Who filled in the metadata:

Alfred Houngnon
Geographic Coverage

The earfBenin is an islet of a semi-deciduous forest covering 560.14 hectares in a savanna dominated vegetation at 12 km north from the Kétou District in the Plateau department, south-east of Benin Republic. Latitude 07°27'59.195" N, longitude 002°34'29.395" E.

Bounding Coordinates South West [7.442, 2.554], North East [7.482, 2.592]
Project Data

The Vibrant Botanical Village is designed for preserving the extraordinary plant diversity hosted by the threatened Ewe-Adakplame Relic forest (EARF). This forest is among tropical rain forest that has survived the late Holocene dry period in West Africa. Today, EARF is a micro-refugium showing insular characteristics in a savanna-dominated vegetation. Despite severe threats, EARF persists and is home to 15.4% of Benin Flora, including West African forest bio-indicators with high conservation priority found nowhere else in Benin. We aim engaging locals in botanical practices (herbaria and seed collection, vegetative propagation, and planting native trees) to rehabilitate and promote this heritage. Since December 2014, AGIR (Association de Gestion Intégrée des Ressources) is co-designing a sustainable participative management project for the unique flora of Ewe-Adakplame Relic forest (EARF). This is important for achieving Objective 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020. The Convention on Biological Diversity highlights the need to take adequate measures for the conservation of ecosystems. Thus, plant conservation has become imperative as plants play an essential role in sustaining life on earth. Benin, like other African countries, is committed to meet this challenge by providing useful information for the valorisation of this heritage plants that could improve farmers’ incomes while promoting an ambitious and attractive landscapes rehabilitation. Located in a savanna dominated vegetation, extinction threats to many species of EARF are however still widespread. Human boundaries around EARF are expanding rapidly from the outskirts to the natural habitat edges. For instance, the cover of EARF reduced from 560.14 hectares in 1994 to 382.35 hectares in 2020, i.e. a loss of 177.79 hectares over 26 years. This is continuing to narrow the natural habitat with a massive loss of many of local biodiversity taxa. Moreover, EARF is completely isolated from protected areas. This project aims to restore and rehabilitate degraded land of Ewe-Adapklame Relic Forest by engaging locals in vibrant botanical village establishment so as to optimize the ecotourism contribution with the economic development and well-being of host communities.

Title Establish a comprehensive list of the vascular plants of earfbenin and Develop a Vibrant Botanical Village with the Ewe-Adakplame Relic Forest and local communities
Identifier Alfred Houngnon
Funding Rufford Foundation small grants Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens
Study Area Description The forest relic is located at the north-east of the depression of "Co" or "Lama" on the plateaus of low altitude that evolved on the pre-Cambrian base rocks (Adjanohoun et al. 1989). The District is called Kétou at the south-east of Benin Republic at latitude 07°27'59.195" N, longitude 002°34'29.395" E. This part of the Benin belongs to the Guineo-Congolean Region. The most important national protected areas are in the northern part. There are several other forests (even if small) in the southern part of the country which are within the national protected areas network (e.g. gazatted forests of Dogo-Ketou, Pobe, Lama, Pahou) which are well-managed (Adomou et al. 2006). There is also the recent Transboundary biosphere reserve of Mono which is now part of the national protected areas network. However, EARF has not yet been included in this national protected areas network. The mean annual rainfall in the EARF is between 900–1300 mm (Adjanohoun et al. 1989; CARDER 2002; Adomou et al. 2006) which contrasts to other similar African dense semi-deciduous forests. The rainfall recorded in Upper Guinea is between 1750–1900 mm (Martin 2008) in Côte d'Ivoire (West Africa) and annual rainfall measured around the Kakamega rain forest in East Africa was approximately 2215 mm (Cords 1987) and 1956 mm (Greiner 1991). Table 1 provides parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, vegetation and soil types of the study site. The landscape surrounding EARF is dominated by fallows, cultivation areas and housing. The vegetation is a mosaic of savanna with species of the Sudanian transition zone such as Adansonia digitate L., Stereospermum kuntianum Cham., Trichilia emetic Vahl, Annona senegalensis Pers., Vitex doniana Sweet, Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G. Don, Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn., Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir., Pericopsis laxiflora (Benth.) Meeuwen, Daniellia oliveri (Rolfe) Hutch. & Dalziel, Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn., Sarcocephalus latifolius (Sm.) E.A. Bruce, Uvaria chamae P. Beauv., Vitex grandifolia Gürke and Andropogon gayanus Kunth (Biaou 2009; Armani et al. 2018). The total population of the villages of Ewe and Adakplame is 13,623 individuals with 2,078 households (INSAE 2016). The main activity is agriculture followed by hunting, livestock breeding and local commerce.
Design Description The inventory of EARF plant species was conducted from February 2014 to December 2017. The forest investigation was based on a vegetation map divided into 250,000 m² (500 m × 500 m) grids following 6 transects, each of 500 m width and 3000 m length. Transects were oriented south-north. The floristic sampling covered different components of the EARF. At each stand, a topometer (Chaining Buddy, Fremaco Devices, Canada) with disposable filament was used to delimit quadrats of 10 m × 50 m. The observation stands were set out at intervals of 100 m along each transect line and there was one quadrat per plot of 250,000 m². In total, 25 forest quadrats of 500 m² were floristically surveyed. To set a preliminary list of EARF flora, species identification was fist based on our self-background during the sampling field work with photo captures (Olympus Digital Camera SP-620 UZ Silver and Samsung Galaxy S7 Android 6.0.1). This approach was combined with description session (on field and at the National Herbarium). Voucher specimens were systematically collected for specimens whose determination is confused. They were compared with voucher specimens of the national Herbarium. To access the systematic information notes, the botanical nomenclature followed the Analytical Flora of Benin (Akoègninou et al. 2006). The list of plant species recorded was compared to online resources such as the “Catalog of life” (Hassler 2020) and the Benin National Red List (Neuenschwander et al. 2011) in order to access botanical information notes and the conservation status of species.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

The inventory of EARF plant species was conducted from February 2014 to December 2017. The forest investigation was based on a vegetation map divided into 250,000 m² (500 m × 500 m) grids following 6 transects, each of 500 m width and 3000 m length. Transects were oriented south-north.

Study Extent Kétou District

Method step description:

  1. The floristic sampling covered different components of the earfbenin. At each stand, a topometer (Chaining Buddy, Fremaco Devices, Canada) with disposable filament was used to delimit quadrats of 10 m × 50 m. The observation stands were set out at intervals of 100 m along each transect line and there was one quadrat per plot of 250,000 m². In total, 25 forest quadrats of 500 m² were floristically surveyed. To set a preliminary list of EARF flora, species identification was fist based on our self-background during the sampling field work with photo captures (Olympus Digital Camera SP-620 UZ Silver and Samsung Galaxy S7 Android 6.0.1). This approach was combined with description session (on field and at the National Herbarium). Voucher specimens were systematically collected for specimens whose determination is confused. They were compared with voucher specimens of the national Herbarium. To access the systematic information notes, the botanical nomenclature followed the Analytical Flora of Benin (Akoègninou et al. 2006). The list of plant species recorded was compared to online resources such as the “Catalog of life” (Hassler 2020) and the Benin National Red List (Neuenschwander et al. 2011) in order to access botanical information notes and the conservation status of species.
Collection Data
Collection Name Herbier National du Bénin
Specimen preservation methods Other
Additional Metadata