Background Atacora Chain of Mountains (ACM) is the Benin part of a range of mountains lying from Benin to Ghana through Togo. It provides goods and services to people and is dominated by rural communities with heavy reliance on natural resources. The ACM may be threatened by the increasing resource needs and the possible shift in people’s livelihood priorities brought about by challenges and opportunities ushered in by modernization. This study sought to understand local people’s perception of the services derived from the ACM and the socio-demographic factors (age, gender, and level of urbanization of the place people live in) accounting for these perceptions. Methods Face to face interviews with 12 focus groups in 3 municipalities were carried out to obtain a list of ecosystem services cited by the participants. At the individual level, 144 people (men, women, young, adult, and old people from either rural or urbanized areas) equally distributed in the 3 municipalities were asked whether they acknowledge each of the services cited by the focus groups. Logistic regressions were then used with generalized linear models (GLM) function in R to analyze the relationships between the probability of acknowledgement of a service by the respondents and their socio-demographic characteristics. Results Local people perceived the ACM as a provider of provisioning, supporting, and cultural services but cited more provisioning services than the others. The factors considered in this study (gender, location, and age) were all predictors of ecosystem services perception in the ACM. Location influenced people’s perception of provisioning and supporting services such that respondents from rural municipalities were more likely to perceive provisioning and supporting services. This is because people in rural areas have a heavier reliance on natural resources. Gender was associated with respondents’ perception of supporting, provisioning, and cultural services. Women were more likely to perceive provisioning services and less likely supporting and cultural services. People in each category of gender have a perception of ES linked to their livelihood activities. Young people were less likely to perceive supporting services than adults and old people due to their less involvement in farming activities. Conclusions This study showed that gender, location, and age predict local people’s perception of ecosystem services in the ACM and livelihood orientation is determinant. The omission of regulation and many of the supporting services questions the future of this mountain chain if its exploitation continues without any awareness and conservation measures.

Haematostaphis barteri Hook.f. is an endemic plant species with a high economic potential that mostly grows on rocky soils in the Sudanian zone from Ghana to Sudan. In Bénin, the species is found only around the commune of Natitingou, but there is little knowledge on its uses by the local populations and how these uses potentially affect its conservation status. This study aimed to evaluate the vulnerability of H. barteri in its natural range in Benin, based on the assessment of its indigenous uses and its population inventory. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in eight villages of the commune of Natitingou from eighty people belonging to the Bètammaribè and Waaba ethnic groups, to identify their knowledge and usage of the species. The species population inventory was also carried out to estimate the frequency and density of H. barteri populations. The species' vulnerability score was determined using results from the ethnobotanical survey, population inventory and information in the literature. Rural populations in Natitingou use H. barteri mainly for food (100% of interviewees), traditional medicine (76.3%) and wood fuel (37.5%). Most of the respondents (91.3%) usually harvest immature fruits so as to preserve them, both for their consumption and for commercialization. Twentynine populations of H. barteri were identified with densities averaging 46.6 adult individuals per hectare and a regeneration of 9.7 individuals per hectare. The average vulnerability score for H. barteri was estimated at 2.4 on a scale of 1 (not vulnerable) to 3 (highly vulnerable). H. barteri is thus a vulnerable species that deserves to be included in Benin's list of endangered species.

Mountain areas are fragile ecosystems that play important roles in people's livelihoods and maintenance of the global ecosystem through the provision of many ecosystem services. Land use/cover (LULC) change is considered one of the major threats to mountain areas due to its effects on ecosystem services including carbon stocks. In this study we assessed LULC change between 1987 and 2015 and its impact on aboveground carbon stocks in the Atacora Chain of Mountains (ACM) in Benin, West Africa. Supervised classification was performed to delineate LULC classes on three dates (1987, 2001 and 2015), and forest measurements carried out in the land cover classes, to estimate the aboveground biomass and the subsequent carbon stocks. Seven land cover classes were delineated: gallery forests, woodlands, savanna, water, settlements, bare lands and farm lands. LULC changes were characterized by three transitions: 1) the change of man-made land cover into savanna, 2) the change of natural vegetation into man-made land cover and 3) the degradation of gallery forests and woodland into less wooded vegetation. The aboveground carbon stock in gallery forests, woodland and tree savanna were significantly greater than in shrub savanna. During the 28 years of assessment, LULC change in gallery forests, woodland and savanna caused an estimated overall aboveground carbon release of 17.10% in the ACM. From the aboveground carbon quantity in the ACM, it appeared that this ecosystem is a potential carbon reservoir. Because the aboveground carbon stock in shrub savanna is significantly lower as compared to gallery forests, woodland and tree savanna and the rates of degradation from gallery forests and woodland to savanna are high, 53.62% and 59.99% respectively in 28 years, LULC change may undermine the ACM ability to store carbon and contribute to climate change mitigation. There is a need to investigate the drivers of this degradation for actions to preserve the natural vegetation in the ACM.