22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page a 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 http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page b CABI Publishing is a division of CAB International CABI Publishing CABI Publishing CAB International 875 Massachusetts Avenue Wallingford 7th Floor Oxon, OX10 8DE Cambridge, MA 02139 UK USA Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Tel: +1 617 395 4056 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 Fax: +1 617 394 6875 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cabi-publishing.org ©CAB International 2004. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. 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. 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page c Biodiversity of West African Forests An Ecological Atlas of Woody Plant Species Edited by L. Poorter F. Bongers F.N’. Kouamé W.D. Hawthorne 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page d 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page e 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 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:22 AM Page f 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 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:23 AM Page 1 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 22466 layout a-f, 1-2 11/11/03 10:23 AM Page 2 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 22466 layout Chapter 1 11/21/03 2:15 PM Page 3 A Forest Chapters 1-8