Biodiversity of West African Forests: An Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species (Cabi Publishing)

528 Pages·2004·65.46 MB·English

by  L. Poorter

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Biodiversity of West African Forests
An Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species
Edited by:
L. Poorter, F. Bongers, F.Y.N’. Kouamé, W.D. Hawthorne
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CABI Publishing is a division of CAB International
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data
A cataloque record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK
Biodiversity of West African forests: an ecological atlas of woody plant species/ edited by L. Poorter, F. Bongers, F.N’. Kouamé, W.D. Hawthorne
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-85199-734-1 (alk.paper)
1. Forest plants–Africa, West.
2. Plant diversity–Africa, West.
3. Plant diversity conservation–Africa, West.
4. Forest conservation–Africa, West. I. Poorter, L. (Lourens)
QK393.B56 2004
333.95’3’0966–dc22
2003055534
ISBN 0 85199 734 1
Printed and bound in Singapore by MRM Graphics from copy supplied by the editors.
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Biodiversity
of
West African
Forests
An Ecological Atlas of Woody
Plant Species
Edited by
L. Poorter
F. Bongers
F.N’. Kouamé
W.D. Hawthorne
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Table of
Contents
Preface and acknowledgements 1
A
Forest
1
West African forests: introduction
5
L. Poorter, F. Bongers and R.H.M.J. Lemmens
2
Forest cover changes in Côte d’Ivoire and Upper Guinea
15
C. Chatelain, H. Dao, L. Gautier and R. Spichiger
3
The forest-savanna transition in West Africa
33
L. Gautier and R. Spichiger
4
The forests of Upper Guinea: gradients in large species composition
41
F. Bongers, L. Poorter and W.D. Hawthorne
5
Floristic diversity of closed forests in Côte d’Ivoire
53
F. N’. Kouamé, K.E. Kouadio, K. Kouassi and L. Poorter
6
Biodiversity hotspots in West Africa; patterns and causes
61
J.J. Wieringa and L. Poorter
7
What explains the distribution of rare and endemic West African plants?
73
M. Holmgren, L. Poorter and A. Siepel
8
Implications for conservation and management
87
F. Bongers, L. Poorter, V. Beligné, W.D. Hawthorne, F. N’. Kouamé, M.P.E. Parren and D. Traoré
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B
Species
9 Ecological profiles of rare and endemic species
101
M. Holmgren, L. Poorter, A. Siepel, F. Bongers, M. Buitelaar, C. Chatelain, L. Gautier, W.D. Hawthorne,
A.T.F. Helmink, C.C.H. Jongkind, H.J. Os-Breijer, J.J. Wieringa and A.R. van Zoest
10
Ecological profiles of large timber species
391
A. Siepel, L. Poorter and W.D. Hawthorne
11
Checklist of Upper Guinea forest species
447
C.C.H. Jongkind
C
Appendices
Appendix 1 Colour figures Chapter 2: Forest cover changes in Côte d’Ivoire and Upper Guinea 481
Appendix 2 Forest sites in Upper Guinea 493
Appendix 3 Forest reserves in Upper Guinea 499
Appendix 4 Hotspots of plant biodiversity in Upper Guinean forests 501
Appendix 5 Geographical map of West Africa 503
D
Sources & index
Literature 507
Authors, photographers and illustrators 517
Index 519
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Preface
and
acknowledgements
Forests
in West Africa are The atlas strongly draws on the use of herbarium collections.
seriously under threat. Deforestation is continuously going Carel Jongkind, Jan Wieringa and Folkert Aleva were
on, and many forest areas have been transformed into responsible for the collection of new specimens in the field,
agricultural fields. Remaining forests are degrading by species (re)identification and herbarium mounting &
poaching, illegal cutting and agricultural planting. This maintenance. Several herbaria in Africa and Europe allowed
threat has led the European Community to support the us to use their herbarium collections; Nationaal Herbarium
ECOSYN project, in which an international group of Nederland, Wageningen branch (Herbarium Vadense,
researchers aimed at compiling available information on The Netherlands), National Botanical Garden of Belgium
the forests of West Africa and on the plants in those forests (Meise, Belgium), Daubeny Herbarium (Oxford, Great
(project B7-5041/95-02/VIII: ECOSYN: Guides, BIOGIS Britain), Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (Kew, Great Britain),
et Eco-Atlas des arbres et des lianes pour mieux gérer et Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève
conserver les forêts d’Afrique Occidentale (de la Guinée au (Genève, Switzerland), Muséum National d’Histoire
Ghana). Naturelle (Paris, France), Herbier National de Côte d’Ivoire,
The project started in 1996 and was jointly prepared by University of Cocody (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), and the
Renaat van Rompaey, Frans Breteler (Wageningen Dept. of Botany of the University of Ghana (Legon, Ghana).
University), Dossahua Traoré (University of Cocody, Data entry was done by Marjo Buitelaar, Stuart Cable,
Abidjan) and Vincent Beligné (Yamoussoukro). Patrick Ekpe, Hendrikjan van Os Breijer, Jan van Veldhuizen
The European Community, Directorate General 8, and many students, especially Paul van Esch, Tom van
financed the ECOSYN project. Special thanks to Enrico Lokven, Marieke Sandker, Arjan Schoonhoven, Petra
Pironio for continuous support during the first years, and Wilbrink and Saskia Woudenberg. Xander van de Burgt and
Matthieu Bousquet for the last period. The project was Marieke van Bergen contributed to the selection of rare and
headed in The Netherlands by Frans Breteler, Roel endemic species.
Lemmens and Frans Bongers, each in different periods. Denis Filer designed the Brahms herbarium database and
In Côte d’Ivoire Vincent Beligné and Dossahua Traoré tailored it to our specific needs. Several colleagues kindly
guided the project. allowed us to use their databases; Petra De Block (Ixora),
Cyrille Chatelain (part of the Genève database), Carel
The book you are reading now is one of the products of Jongkind (Combretaceae), Marc Pignal (part of the Paris
this ECOSYN project. It focuses on the distribution and database), Roger Polhill (Loranthaceae), Bonaventure Sonké
state of the forests and analyses vegetation gradients, (Oxyanthus), Piet Stoffelen (Pausinystalia and Corynanthe),
determines hotspots of plant diversity, and treats Jan Wieringa (Aphanocalyx and Tetraberlinia). GIS support
distribution patterns of rare and endemic species. and species distribution maps were provided by Toon
Helmink, Gerbert Roerink, Cees de Zeeuw, and Roland van
Numerous people have contributed to this book, by Zoest.
providing logistic support, collecting data, data entry, Advice on statistics was provided by Cajo ter Braak and on
providing photographic material, drawings, commenting soils by Vincent van Engelen (ISRIC).
on species descriptions and chapters, reviewing, and so on. The species descriptions were refined and checked by
We wish to thank the following colleagues. Jan-Just Bos (Dracaenaceae), Frans Breteler
Logistic support was provided in Wageningen and Abidjan (Dichapetalaceae), Joost van der Burg (Orchidaceae),
by Folkert Aleva, Jean Assi, Rob Allaart, Laurent Aké-Assi, François Kouamé, Arnold Pieterse (Podostemaceae), Marc
Aman Kadio, Vincent Beligné, Frans Breteler, Erik Sosef (Begoniaceae and a number of other species), Laurens
Frederiks, Theo van Hoksbergen, Joke Jansen, Roel Vogelezang helped with editing for some species groups.
Lemmens, Kees-Jan Manschot, Judith van Medenbach de Species drawings were made by Rosemary Wise, Marjolein
Rooy, Artine van Pouderoijen, Renaat van Rompaey, Spitteler and Emmelien Jaggar, and photos were kindly
Barbara van Roosmalen, Tine Ruijsch, Dossahua Traoré, provided by William Hawthorne, Herbarium Vadense, and
Marina Wassink. others.
1
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The following authors contributed to the atlas chapters (in Horn, Michael Huston, Carel Jongkind, François Kouamé,
alphabetical order): Frans Bongers, Marjo Buitelaar, Melissa Leach, Adrian Newton, Marc Parren,
Cyrille Chatelain, Hy Dao, Laurent Gautier, Lourens Poorter, Stefan Porembski, Hans ter Steege,
William Hawthorne, Toon Helmink, Milena Holmgren, Mike Swaine, and Claudius van den Vijver.
Carel Jongkind, K.E. Kouadio, K. Kouassi, François Kouamé,
Roel Lemmens, Hendrikjan van Os Breijer, Finally, the beautiful design and layout of the atlas was in
Lourens Poorter, Rodolphe Spichiger, Almira Siepel, the hands of Marjolein de Vette.
Jan Wieringa, Roland van Zoest. David Dunn and
Andrea Falke translated some manuscripts into English.
The atlas chapters benefited from detailed reviews by Additional acknowledgements for specific chapters may be
(alphabetically) Frans Bongers, Cyrille Chatelain, James found in those chapters.
Fairhead, William Hawthorne, Milena Holmgren, Sally We thank all for their contribution to this book.
Lourens Poorter, Frans Bongers, François Kouamé, William Hawthorne
September 2003
The contents of this publication is the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the
European Union.
2
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A
Forest
Chapters 1-8