Modeling of the Ecological Niche of Anogeissus leiocarpa (DC.) Guill & Perr and Conservation Strategies in the Context of Climate and Global Change (Benin, West Africa)

Authors: APÉLÉTÉ Eben Ezer, KOURA Kourouma, AOUDJI Augustin and GANGLO Cossi Jean

DOI: 10.23880/jenr-16000330

Volume 7, Issue 2

Abstract

The objective of this work is to study the ethno botanical importance of Anogeissus leiocarpa and the potential impacts of climate and global changes on the spatial distribution of the species in order to contribute to its conservation and sustainable use. One hundred and eighty-nine (189) peoples were surveyed in the ten phytodistricts of Benin. Occurrences of Anogeissus leiocarpa downloaded from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) website (www.gbif.org; https://doi.org/10.15468/ dl.qgwnvf) was supplemented with those collected in the field to model the spatial distribution and the ecological niche of the species. Environmental climatic data were downloaded from Worldclim and Africlim website at the resolution of 2.5 minutes; non-climatic environmental data as soil, population and distance to dwellings (Settlement) were respectively downloaded from ISRIC and SEDAC website at the same resolution. The results of five modeling algorithms were compared: Maxent, BRT, RF, GLM, and GAM. From the main results, Anogeissus leiocarpa is well known and variously used by the surveyed population. Three categories of use were named: wood use (64 %), medicinal use (35 %) and spiritual or medico-magical use (1 %). The most named parts of the plants are the trunk and the leaves. Seven (7) forms of usage were named: service wood, decoction, timber, fuelwood, power, toothpick and trituration. Maxent and BRT algorithms have shown the best performance to predict suitable areas of Anogeissus leiocarpa (compared to RF, GLM and GAM) and were therefore combined to define conservation strategies for the species. Globally, there is an extension of the new suitable areas of the species. The suitable areas of the species are seldom threatened by climate change in Africa and Benin. Also, the protected areas of Benin will remain effective for the conservation of the species in the present and in the future.

Keywords: Anogeissus leiocarpa; Climate Change; Ecological Niche Models; Suitable Areas; Ethno botanical Study; Benin; West Africa

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