Fousseni, F.; Bilouktime, B.; Mustapha, T.; Kamara, M.; Wouyo, A.; Aboudoumisamilou, I.; Oyetunde, D.; Kperkouma, W.; Komlan, B.; Koffi, A. Land Use Change and the Structural Diversity of Affem Boussou Community Forest in the Tchamba 1 Commune (Tchamba Prefecture, Togo). Conservation2023, 3, 346-362.
Fousseni, F.; Bilouktime, B.; Mustapha, T.; Kamara, M.; Wouyo, A.; Aboudoumisamilou, I.; Oyetunde, D.; Kperkouma, W.; Komlan, B.; Koffi, A. Land Use Change and the Structural Diversity of Affem Boussou Community Forest in the Tchamba 1 Commune (Tchamba Prefecture, Togo). Conservation 2023, 3, 346-362.
Fousseni, F.; Bilouktime, B.; Mustapha, T.; Kamara, M.; Wouyo, A.; Aboudoumisamilou, I.; Oyetunde, D.; Kperkouma, W.; Komlan, B.; Koffi, A. Land Use Change and the Structural Diversity of Affem Boussou Community Forest in the Tchamba 1 Commune (Tchamba Prefecture, Togo). Conservation2023, 3, 346-362.
Fousseni, F.; Bilouktime, B.; Mustapha, T.; Kamara, M.; Wouyo, A.; Aboudoumisamilou, I.; Oyetunde, D.; Kperkouma, W.; Komlan, B.; Koffi, A. Land Use Change and the Structural Diversity of Affem Boussou Community Forest in the Tchamba 1 Commune (Tchamba Prefecture, Togo). Conservation 2023, 3, 346-362.
Abstract
Affem Boussou community forest (AFC) abounds in important biological resources. This study, which contributes to its better management, examines the spatiotemporal dynamics of the vegetation and its ecological and structural characteristics to propose a zoning plan for the said forest. The analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use in the AFC from Google Earth images of 2015, 2018, and 2021 revealed a regressive trend of formations: crops and fallows (-33.98%), dense dry forests (-7.92%), gallery forests (-3.46%), plantations (-100%), grassy savannahs and meadows (-18.84%) except for tree/shrub savannahs (484.23%). The floristic inventory identified 163 species divided into 129 genera and 55 families. Fabaceae (14.02%), and Combretaceae (10.55%) are the most represented families. Anogeissus leiocarpa (5.19%) and Vitellaria paradoxa (4.72%) are the most frequent species. We note the dominance of individuals of small diameters. The regeneration potential of the AFC is 64 feet/ha due to 21 feet/ha of suckers, 29 feet/ha of seedlings, and 14 feet/ha of shoots. As a zoning plan, the AFC was subdivided into four series: the agroforestry zone (18.80%), the sustainable production forest zone (42.22%), the buffer zone (11%), and the biological conservation zone (28%). These results constitute a scientific basis for testing ecological indicators of sustainable management of community forests in Togo.
Keywords
land use changes; zoning; community forest; resilience; Togo
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Forestry
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
