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Author's personal copy Ecological Complexity 13 (2013) 60–68 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Ecological Complexity jo urnal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecocom Original Research Article How far a protected area contributes to conserve habitat species composition and population structure of endangered African tree species (Benin, West Africa) a, a a b Thierry D. Houehanou *, Achille E. Assogbadjo , Romain Glele Kakaı¨ , Tina Kyndt , a a Marcel Houinato , Brice Sinsin a Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Science, University of Abomey Calavi, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Benin b UGent Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: The Pendjari Biosphere Reserve located in the Sudanian zone of Be´nin, is a protected area well managed, Received 1 August 2011 but mainly aimed at wild animal conservation. This study assessed its effectiveness to conserve habitat Received in revised form 30 December 2012 species composition and population structure of three endangered African tree species: Afzelia africana Accepted 7 January 2013 Sm., Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir. and Khaya senegalensis (Desv.) A. Juss. We randomly sampled 120 plots in Available online 4 February 2013 the protected and surrounding unprotected habitats by inventorying plant species. For the three target species, we estimated adult and juvenile densities and recorded size classes. According to floristic Key words: composition four habitats groups were recognized in relation to human disturbance, vegetation type, Afzelia africana and moisture. These were protected savannas, unprotected savannas, old fallows and gallery forests. The Pterocarpus erinaceus estimated adult densities of A. africana were similar between protected (14 Æ 1.2 tree/ha) and Khaya senegalensis Species composition unprotected savannas (17 Æ 0.9 tree/ha) while for P. erinaceus the adult density was significantly higher Population structure in protected (12 Æ 3.7 tree/ha) than in unprotected savannas (5 Æ 1.9 tree/ha). Estimated adult density of K. Conservation senegalensis was also significantly higher in protected gallery forest (40 Æ 5.8 tree/ha) than in unprotected one (29 Æ 4.8 tree/ha). Juvenile densities of A. africana, K. senegalensis and P. erinaceus were higher in protected habitats than in unprotected ones but the difference was not significant. Skewness coefficient indicated that populations of investigated trees were declining in their protected habitats. However, in the case of A. africana and K. senegalensis populations seemed to be mostly threatened in the protected area. We concluded that although the studied protected area is effective to conserve some habitats species compositions, protection is not sufficient to guarantee future conservation of some threatened tree species. Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction 2003; Banda et al., 2006; Makana and Thomas, 2006; Haugo et al., 2010; Kohyani et al., 2011). In the tropics, increasing demand for timber, fuel and At regional level, approximately 76% of all species are facing construction and for traditional agriculture, by a rapidly growing extinction risk due to loss and modification of their natural population, put high pressure on limited forest resources (Ehui habitats (McNeely, 1996). In Benin, a total of 280 threatened plant et al., 1990; Scoones, 1995; Gle`le` Kakaı¨ and Sinsin, 2009). Under species, representing 10% of the national flora, have been reported this situation much of tropical biodiversity is unlikely to survive (Adomou et al., 2009). As the global strategy of plant conservation without effective protection and therefore strategies to promote its states that at least 60% of threatened plant species should be conservation are needed, for instance by establishing and within protected areas (Vellak et al., 2009) there is increasing maintaining protected areas (Bruner et al., 2001). According to concern about the extent to which protected areas contribute to Lykke (1998) various human activities have disturbed savanna conserve threatened plant species and their habitat. Several ecosystems for a long time, as savannas are a resource for food, previous studies (Botha et al., 2004; Djossa et al., 2008; medicine, timber and livestock breeding (Bellefontaine et al., Gouwakinnou et al., 2009; Fandohan et al., 2011; Schumann 2000). The significant effect of human disturbance such as logging, et al., 2010) have emphasized the positive effect of different land clearing and/or grazing on species composition of some broad protected areas to conserve some valuable tree species in Africa ecosystems, has been highlighted by many studies (Sagar et al., using their population structure as an indicator. Afzelia africana Sm., (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae); Pterocar- pus erinaceus Poir., (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) and Khaya senegalensis (Desv.) A. Juss, (Meliaceae) are three tree species, * Corresponding author. Tel.: +229 95 69 35 74. E-mail address: [email protected] (T.D. Houehanou). for which a strong decline has been reported in their native area by 1476-945X/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2013.01.002 Author's personal copy T.D. Houehanou et al. / Ecological Complexity 13 (2013) 60–68 61 previous international findings (Adomou et al., 2009; IUCN, 2008; composition? (2) Have population structures (expressed by Lykke, 1998; Hahn-Hadjali and Thiombiano, 2000). Adomou et al. density and size class distribution) of these tree species been (2009) reported that they are highly endangered in Benin. This is positively affected by this protected area? linked to their multiple uses such as medicine, fuel, craft and fodder (Eyog-Matig et al., 2002; Gautier et al., 2005; Oue´draogo- 2. Materials and methods Kone´ et al., 2006) and also to land clearing for agriculture. The Pendjari Biosphere Reserve is a protected area located in 2.1. Study area the Sudanian zone and is the most managed protected area in Benin (Delvingt et al., 1989). However, management strategies The study was carried out in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, a (such as the regular early bush fire, patrols against poaching and protected area located in the extreme north-western part of Benin others) applied in this protected area aim at conserving wild (West Africa) and in its surrounding land use areas (Fig. 1). It is 0 animals since these latter provide almost all financial resources geographically located in the Sudanian zone between 10840 - 0 obtained from the reserve valorization. Thus, plants in general and 11828N and 0857 -2810E. The reserve covers an area of about 2 trees in particular are neglected in these management strategies. 4666.4 km and is composed of the Pendjari National Park 2 2 Past studies relating to the conservation of target threatened (2660.4 km ), the Pendjari hunting zone (1750 km ) and the 2 tree species has focused on seedling survival constraints (Bationo Konkombri hunting zone (251 km ). In the protected area et al., 2001; Oue´draogo et al., 2006), seedling responses to anthropogenic activities are strictly prohibited while the sur- ectomycorrhizal inoculation (Die´dhiou et al., 2005), impact of rounding areas are dominated by farmlands, fallows and savannas. foliage and bark harvesting on population structure (Gaoue and The savannas in the surrounding unprotected areas are all Ticktin, 2007), dynamic changes through climatic zones (Sinsin subjected to selective logging and cutting of valuable tree species, et al., 2004) and habitat characterization (Bonou et al., 2009). livestock grazing and/or non timber forest products harvesting. However, the difference in population structure and in habitat- Mean annual rainfall in the reserve is 1000 mm with 60% falling species composition in protected versus unprotected areas is between July and September (Sinsin et al., 2002). However, the relatively unknown. In the absence of long-term studies, inves- rainfall in the sampled area, falls between 1000 mm and 1020 mm tigations on population structure by density and size class and is equally distributed between land use area and protected distributions is a relevant way to obtain important data about area for some given rainfall levels (Fig. 1). The climate is the status of tree populations (Lykke, 1998; Obiri et al., 2002). This characterized by one rainy season (April/May to October) and study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of this protected one dry season (November to March). Temperature varies from area in the conservation of the three target species and their 21 8C during the night up to 40 8C during the day in this zone. Soils habitats species composition. Specifically we conducted this are ferruginous in many areas of protected and land use areas research to address the following two questions: (1) Do protected (Fig. 1). However, indurate tropical ferruginous soils and swampy and unprotected habitats of these tree species differ in species tropical ferruginous soils are mainly distributed in sampled area of Fig. 1. Map showing the distribution of vegetation formations and rainfall (left picture) and the distribution of soils (right picture) in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve. Author's personal copy 62 T.D. Houehanou et al. / Ecological Complexity 13 (2013) 60–68 protected and unprotected areas. Vegetation formation is charac- signs (collected only in unprotected savannas and fallows), and terized mainly by woodlands and savannas in the protected and presence of water, rock and sand. In addition local people were land use areas (Fig. 1). interviewed on availability of target species in land use area. Herbarium specimens were prepared and identified with the help 2.2. Study species of National flora or at the National Herbarium of Benin. The data were collected during the vegetation period (from July to The three target species are found in the dry and wet Sudanian September) of 2008 and 2009. regions of Africa (White, 1983). A. africana is found in savannas, humid and dry forests and on hills (Akoe` gninou et al., 2006). It 2.4.