Traditional ecological knowledge-based assessment of threatened woody species and their potential substitutes in the Atakora mountain chain, a threatened hotspot of biodiversity in Northwestern Benin, West Africa

Agbani, Pierre; Kafoutchoni, Konoutan Médard; Salako, Kolawolé Valère; Gbèdomon, Rodrigue Castro; Kégbé, Ahuéfa Mauricel; Hahn, Karen; Sinsin, Brice

doi:10.1186/s13002-018-0219-6

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Data were grouped according to location (municipality), gender, and age on the one hand and according to ecosystem categories on the other hand. The age variable was categorized into three groups: young, adults, and old [33, 34]. Simple logistic regression was used to test whether the probability that a respondent acknowledges a service (provisioning, regulating, supporting, or cultural) the ACM provides them is affected by their gender, age, and location (municipality) (independent variables).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors shaping local people’s perception of ecosystem services in the Atacora Chain of Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot in northern Benin

Moutouama

Biaou

Kyereh

et al. 2019

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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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.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors shaping local people’s perception of ecosystem services in the Atacora Chain of Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot in northern Benin

Moutouama

Biaou

Kyereh

et al. 2019

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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“…Four of those wild spice taxa were missing from our inventory and the missing taxa included two species ( M. myristica and Z. gilletii ) whose respective ecological range was out of the extent of the study area, and two others that were not recorded from our ethnobotanical inventory. This could also suggest that threat is a temporally dynamic process influenced by several external (human-associated and environment-related) and internal (reproduction, viability, inbreeding, genetic erosion, and adaptability) factors [ 75 ], and a species that has a low conservation concern today can become highly threatened in the future [ 76 ]. Urgent conservation action to safeguard the wild spices would be the only way to ensure the availability of these resources for the future generations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa)

Kafoutchoni

Idohou

Egeru

et al. 2018

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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BackgroundSpices have always been used for their flavor-enhancement characteristics and for their medicinal properties. In Benin, scientific research on spices is scarce, despite their importance in the local population’s daily needs. This study investigated the diversity of wild spices and documented the associated traditional knowledge that can be used for their valuation, domestication, and sustainable management in the Sudano-Guinean Zone of Benin.MethodsData were collected during field expeditions using semi-structured interviews in ten localities across the three phytodistricts of the zone. Species richness and Shannon’s diversity index were estimated using species accumulation curves. Use report (UR), cultural importance, use value (UV) index, and informant consensus factor (Fic) were used to assess traditional knowledge on wild species, their local importance, and informants’ agreement among sociolinguistic groups. Priority wild spices were finally identified using an approach combining eight criteria (native status, economic value, ethnobotanical value, global distribution, national distribution, in-situ and ex-situ conservation status, legislation, and threats assessment) in four prioritization methods (point scoring procedure, point scoring procedure with weighting, compound ranking system, and binomial ranking system).ResultsA total of 14 species, belonging to 12 genera and 9 families, were inventoried. The most prominent families were Zingiberaceae (21.43%), Annonaceae (21.43%), and Rutaceae (14.29%). More than 200 specific uses were reported, with the Tchabè people holding the greatest level of knowledge (70 uses; UR = 5.70 ± 0.33). The culturally most important spices differed among sociolinguistic groups. Most of the informants agree on the use of the species among (Fic = 0.72–0.98) and across the considered use categories (Fic = 0.88–0.99). The highest UV were registered for Aframomum alboviolaceum (UV = 0.93), Lippia multiflora (UV = 0.76), and Aframomum angustifolium (UV = 0.18). Overall, people perceived wild spices as declining due to agriculture, grazing, and drought. Five species, A. alboviolaceum, L. multiflora, Monodora tenuifolia, Xylopia aethiopica, and Z. zanthoxyloides, were the most prioritized for conservation.ConclusionsThis study provides information relevant for the implementation of conservation and domestication actions of wild spices in Benin. Priority species could be integrated into traditional agroforestry systems (e.g., home gardens). However, for this to be effective, further research should be undertaken on morphological and genetic diversity and propagation methods of priority wild spices.

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“…The profile of the country is an undulating plateau except for a few scattered hills in the center and the north. The altitude varies from sea level to 400-650 m in the northwest, where the Atacora mountain chain is the outstanding feature and a region of great ecological and species diversity in the country (Agbani et al, 2018;Adéoti et al, 2009). The mean annual rainfall varies from 900 to 1300 mm.…”

Section: Study Area and Demographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnobotanical survey and phytogeographical study of plants species from genus Acacia in Bnin

Tchatchedre¹,

Amoussa²,

Houinato³

et al. 2019

J. Med. Plants Res.

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The genus Acacia, mainly distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions, has been used in traditional medicines for the treatment of microbial infections, malaria, diarrhea, oedema and inflammation. The present study aims to provide a comprehensive data on the distribution and medicinal use of Acacia species. Ethnobotanical survey and phytogeographical study were undertook using field interviews. Informant consensus factor (ICF), frequency of citation (Fc), fidelity level (FL) and use value (UV) were also assessed. A total of 16 species belonging to genus Acacia were inventoried in Benin. A total of 108 informants were interviewed during ethnobotanical survey. Except Acacia auriculiformis, all inventoried species cited by informants were traditionally used to treat various ailments. This species were mostly used as medicinal treatments (93.75 % of the species) and to produce wood and fibers (6.25 %). Leaves, bark and roots were the most used parts and decoction was the most cited method of preparation. A. macrostachya (UV = 1.94), A. nilotica (UV = 1.21), A. hockii (UV = 1.20) and A. ataxacantha (UV = 1.17) and A. sieberiana (UV = 1.15) were the most used species. A. nilotica (75%), A. dudgeonii (67%) and A. seyal (50%). A. nilotica (FL = 75%) and A. dudgeonii (FL = 67%) were the most species cited by informants to treat Digestive System Disorder whereas A. Hockii (67%), A. Senegal (67%), A. ataxacantha (60%), A. erythrocalyx (50%) and A. gerrardii (50%) were cited for Infectious diseases. The extensive literature survey reveals 16 Acacia species distributed in 10 phytogeographic districts in Bénin. These species where mostly used in traditional medicine to treat infectious diseases and Digestive System Disorder. The results of this study open new research perspectives on Acacia species not yet studied.

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Traditional ecological knowledge-based assessment of threatened woody species and their potential substitutes in the Atakora mountain chain, a threatened hotspot of biodiversity in Northwestern Benin, West Africa

Cited by 20 publications

References 30 publications

Factors shaping local people’s perception of ecosystem services in the Atacora Chain of Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot in northern Benin

Factors shaping local people’s perception of ecosystem services in the Atacora Chain of Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot in northern Benin

Species richness, cultural importance, and prioritization of wild spices for conservation in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Benin (West Africa)

Ethnobotanical survey and phytogeographical study of plants species from genus Acacia in Bnin

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