Abundance and Diversity of Trees Species Under Different Land Uses in the Sudan Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana, West Africa

  • Mah Coulibaly Department of civil engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciences and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Kapoury Sanogo Institute of Rural Econimy (IER), Bamako (Mali), Bp 262,
  • Halimatou Aboubacar Toure Institue of Society Sciences (INSS), Burkina Faso, 03Bp 7047
  • Nat Owusu-Prempeh Department of Forest Resources Technology, FRNR, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Grace B. Villamore Scion (New Zeland Forest Research, Ltd), Rotorua, New Zeland, Department of Ecology and Natural Resources Management, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany
  • Stephen Adu Bredu CSIR-Forest Research Institute of Ghana
  • Emmanuel Amponsah Manu CSIR-Forest Research Institute of Ghana
Keywords: Abundance, Tree species diversity, Land use types, conservation, Sudan savannah ecological zone, Ghana

Abstract

Knowledge on tree species abundance and diversity is critical for sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation. The aim of the study was to assess tree species abundance and diversity across different land uses and sites in the Sudan savannah ecological zone of Ghana, a total of 64 plots of 3600 m2 (60 m x 60 m) were laid out in three land use types (Forest reserve, cropland and rangeland) in four sites (Bawku, Binduri, Garu and Pusiga). All standing trees and shrubs species encountered in the setting plot were recorded including dendrometry parameters. Alpha diversity was measured using Simpson, Shannon-Wiener and Evenness indices whereas similarity in species composition between land use types and sites were measured using Sorenson’s index. The results showed that there were more species in the lower diameter classes (0 to 20 cm) than the higher diameter classes (>20 cm). the greatest value of tree diversity was recorded in forest land in the four sites compared to the other land use types. The highest similarity (53%) in tree species composition was recorded between cropland in Binduri and Garu. the current study revealed that forest land recorded the highest value of tree species richness in each site compared to the other two land use types (cropland and rangeland) in the same site.

References

. J. S. Hall, D. J. Harris, V. Medjibe, and P. M. S. Ashton, “The effects of selective logging on forest structure and tree species composition in a Central African forest: Implications for management of conservation areas,” For. Ecol. Manage., vol. 183, no. 1–3, pp. 249–264, 2003.

. O. Mertz, H. M. Ravnborg, G. L. Lövei, I. Nielsen, and C. C. Konijnendijk, “Ecosystem services and biodiversity in developing countries,” Biodivers. Conserv., vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 2729–2737, 2007.

. L. Persha, A. Agrawal, and A. Chhatre, “Social and ecological synergy: Local rulemaking, forest livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation,” Science (80-. )., vol. 331, no. 6024, pp. 1606–1608, 2011.

. M. P. Zari, “Ecosystem services analysis in response to biodiversity loss caused by the built environment,” Sapiens, vol. 7, no. 1, 2014.

. S. J. Hadi, H. Z. M. Shafri, and M. D. Mahir, “Modelling LULC for the period 2010-2030 using GIS and remote sensing: A case study of Tikrit, Iraq,” IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci., vol. 20, pp. 1–11, 2014.

. P. Sarfo-Mensah and W. Oduro, “Traditional Natural Resources Management Practices and Biodiversity Conservation in Ghana: A Review of Local Concepts and Issues on Change and Sustainability,” SSRN Electron. J., no. I, 2011.

. K. Aleza et al., “Population structure and regeneration status of Vitellaria Paradoxa (C. F. Gaertner) under different land management regimes in Atacora department, Benin,” Agrofor. Syst., vol. 89, no. 3, pp. 511–523, 2015.

. I. Perfecto and J. Vandermeer, “Biodiversity conservation in tropical agroecosystems: A new conservation paradigm,” Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. 1134, pp. 173–200, 2008.

. T. Abebe, F. J. Sterck, K. F. Wiersum, and F. Bongers, “Diversity, composition and density of trees and shrubs in agroforestry homegardens in Southern Ethiopia,” Agrofor. Syst., vol. 87, no. 6, pp. 1283–1293, 2013.

. S. Boadi, C. A. Nsor, D. H. Yakubu, E. Acquah, and O. O. Antobre, “Conventional and Indigenous Biodiversity Conservation Approach: A Comparative Study of Jachie Sacred Grove and Nkrabea Forest Reserve,” Int. J. For. Res., vol. 2017, 2017.

. T. I. Ghana, “NGO Brochure Overview of environmental and forestry sector NGOs in Ghana December 2008 Tropenbos International Ghana,” no. December, 2008.

. Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Accra–Ghana, “Ghana forest and wildlife policy,” pp. 1–31, 2013.

. FAO, “Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010,” p. 163, 2010.

. Ghana Forestry Commussion, “Ghana’s National Forest Reference Level,” no. November, p. 171, 2017.

. J. M. Kusimi and G. A. B. Yiran, “Application of Local Knowledge in Land Degradation Assessment in the Bawku East Municipality,” Ghana J. Geogr., vol. 3, pp. 88–125, 2011.

. R. Billé, R. Lapeyre, and R. Pirard, “Biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation: A way out of the deadlock?,” Sapiens, vol. 5, no. 1, 2012.

. Ghana Forestry Commission, “Development of Reference Emissions Levels and Measurement, Reporting and Verification System in Ghana FC/FCPF/MRV/REL/RFP/01/2013,” p. 248, 2015.

. M. Sraku-lartey, “Harnessing indigenous knowledge for sustainable forest management in Ghana,” Int. J. Food Syst. Dyn., vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 182–189, 2015.

. B. Shiferaw and C. Bantilan, “environments : Revisiting challenges and conceptual issues,” Agric. Environ., vol. 2, no. January, pp. 328–339, 2004.

. M. Negash, E. Yirdaw, and O. Luukkanen, “Potential of indigenous multistrata agroforests for maintaining native floristic diversity in the south-eastern Rift Valley escarpment, Ethiopia,” Agrofor. Syst., vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 9–28, 2012.

. S. K. K. Yiran, J.M. Kusimi, “A synthesis of remote sensing and local knowledge approaches in land degradation assessment in the Bawku East District, Ghana,” Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf., vol. 14, pp. 204–213, 2012.

. R. Blench, “Working paper: background conditions in Upper East region, Northern Ghana, 2005,” Work. Pap., pp. 1–23, Jan. 2006.

. F. J. Aguilar, A. Nemmaoui, M. A. Aguilar, M. Chourak, Y. Zarhloule, and A. M. G. Lorca, “A Quantitative Assessment of Forest Cover Change in the Moulouya River Watershed ( Morocco ) by the Integration of a Subpixel-Based and Object-Based Analysis of Landsat Data,” Forest, vol. 7, no. 23, pp. 2–19, 2016.

. V. F. Galiano, Rodriguez, B. Ghimire, J. Rogan, M. Chica-olmo, and J. P. Rigol-sanchez, “ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing An assessment of the effectiveness of a random forest classifier for land-cover classification,” ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens., vol. 67, pp. 93–104, 2012.

. Ramon Margalef, “Information theory in ecology,” Gen. Syst. , vol. 3, pp. 36–71, 1958.

. C. Shannon and W. Weaver, “THE MATHEMATICAL THEORY,” 1963, pp. 1–132.

. P. C. Omoro, L. M. A., Pellikka, P. K. E. and Rogers, “‘Tree species diversity, richness, and similarity between exotic and indigenous forests in the cloud forests of Eastern Arc Mountains, Taita Hills, Kenya,” J. For. Res., vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 255–264., 2010.

. W. L. Gaines, R. J. Harrod, and J. F. Lehmkuhl, “Monitoring biodiversity: Quantification and interpretation,” Gen. Tech. Reports US Dep. Agric. For. Serv., no. PNW-GTR-443, pp. 1–27, 1999.

. E. C. Pielou, “The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections,” J. Theor. Biol., vol. 13, pp. 131-144., 1966.

. A. Molla and G. Kewessa, “Woody Species Diversity in Traditional Agroforestry Practices of Dellomenna District, Southeastern Ethiopia: Implication for Maintaining Native Woody Species,” Int. J. Biodivers., vol. 2015, no. iii, pp. 1–13, 2015.

. A. G. Thomas A, “Estimation of Tree Species Diversity in Four Campuses of Roever Institutions using Simpsons Diversity Index,” J. Biodivers. Endanger. Species, vol. 02, no. 04, pp. 4–6, 2014.

. I. Agyemang, “Assessing the driving forces of environmental degradation in Northern Ghana: Community truthing approach,” African J. Hist. Cult., vol. 4 (6), pp. 59–68, 2012.

. P. Aniah, E. Wedam, M. Pukunyiem, and G. Yinimi, “Erosion And Livelihood Change In North East Ghana : A Look Into The Bowl,” Int. J. Sci. Basic Appl. Res., vol. 7 (1), pp. 28–35, 2013.

. G. Forkuor, C. Conrad, M. Thiel, and B. J. Zoungrana, “Multiscale Remote Sensing to Map the Spatial Distribution and Extent of Cropland in the Sudanian Savanna of West Africa,” MDPI, Remote Sens., vol. 9, no. 839, pp. 1–24, 2017.

. J. Kleemann, G. Baysal, H. N. N. Bulley, and C. Fürst, “Assessing driving forces of land use and land cover change by a mixed-method approach in north-eastern Ghana, West Africa,” J. Environ. Manage., vol. 196, pp. 411–442, 2017.

. P. O. Adjei, D. Buor, and P. Addrah, “Geo-spatial analysis of land use and land cover changes in the Lake Bosomtwe Basin of Ghana,” Ghana J. Geogr., vol. 6, pp. 1–23, 2014.

. M. S. Aduah and R. Aabeyir, “Land Cover Dynamics in Wa Municipality , Upper West Region of Ghana,” Res. J. Environ. Earth Sci., vol. 4 (6), pp. 658–664, 2012.

. A. B. Emmanuel et al., “Threat of agricultural production on woody plant diversity in Tankwidi riparian buffer in the Sudanian Savanna of Ghana,” Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv., vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 354–363, 2015.

. J. O. Ihuma, U. D. Chima, and C. H. M, “Tree Species Diversity in a Nigerian Montane Forest,” ARPN J. Agric. Biol. Sci., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 17–22, 2011.

. S. D. Dayamba, H. Djoudi, M. Zida, L. Sawadogo, and L. Verchot, “Biodiversity and carbon stocks in different land use types in the Sudanian Zone of Burkina Faso, West Africa,” Agric. Ecosyst. Environ., vol. 216, pp. 61–72, 2016.

. O. Sambaré, F. Bognounou, R. Wittig, and A. Thiombiano, “Woody species composition, diversity and structure of riparian forests of four watercourses types in Burkina Faso,” J. For. Res., vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 145–158, 2011.

Published
2021-02-18
Issue
Vol 76 No 1 (2021)
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2021 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who submit papers with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
  4. By submitting the processing fee, it is understood that the author has agreed to our terms and conditions which may change from time to time without any notice.
  5. It should be clear for authors that the Editor In Chief is responsible for the final decision about the submitted papers; have the right to accept\reject any paper.  The Editor In Chief will choose any option from the following to review the submitted papers:A. send the paper to two reviewers, if the results were negative by one reviewer and positive by the other one; then the editor may send the paper for third reviewer or he take immediately the final decision by accepting\rejecting the paper. The Editor In Chief will ask the selected reviewers to present the results within 7 working days, if they were unable to complete the review within the agreed period then the editor have the right to resend the papers for new reviewers using the same procedure. If the Editor In Chief was not able to find suitable reviewers for certain papers then he have the right to accept\reject the paper.B. sends the paper to a selected editorial board member(s). C. the Editor In Chief himself evaluates the paper.
  6. Author will take the responsibility what so ever if any copyright infringement or any other violation of any law is done by publishing the research work by the author
  7. Before publishing, author must check whether this journal is accepted by his employer, or any authority he intends to submit his research work. we will not be responsible in this matter.
  8. If at any time, due to any legal reason, if the journal stops accepting manuscripts or could not publish already accepted manuscripts, we will have the right to cancel all or any one of the manuscripts without any compensation or returning back any kind of processing cost.
  9. The cost covered in the publication fees is only for online publication of a single manuscript.