Author(s)

Senyo Kossi Ehlui^1,2*, Christian Anthony-Krueger³, Edinam Kola², Wouyo Atakpama^4,5, Alagie Bah⁶, Henrik von Wehrden⁷, Tchaa Boukpessi⁸

¹West Africa Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use WASCAL, University of the Gambia, Banjul, Gambia.
²Laboratoire de Recherche sur la Dynamique des Milieux et des Sociétés, Department of Geography, University of Lomé, Lome, Togo.
³Department of Science Education, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁴Laboratoire de Botanique et Écologie Végétale, Département botanique, Faculté des sciences, Université de Lomé, Lome, Togo.
⁵West Africa Plant Red List Authority (WAPRLA), IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland, Switzerland.
⁶Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya.
⁷Faculty of Sustainability, Center of Methods, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany.
⁸Laboratoire de Recherches Biogéographiques et d’Etudes Environnementales, Department of Geography, University of Lome, Lome, Togo.

Since 2015, community forests have been promoted in Togo as an alternative to protect areas from degradation and as a means of contributing to forest landscape restoration. The study focuses on the Nakpadjouak Community Forest (NCF) in Tami (Togo, West Africa) which contributes to community forests sustainable management. It aims in (i) mapping forest ecosystems and analysing their dynamic and (ii) characterizing the floristic diversity of the NCF. The ecosystems were mapped and their dynamic was evaluated based on Google Earth images of 2014 and 2020. Floristic and forestry inventories were carried out using the transect technique in a sample of 20 plots of 50 m × 20 m. The NCF was made up mainly by wooded/shrub savannahs (95.37%) and croplands/fallow (4.63%) in 2014. These two land use types undergone changes over the 6 years prior to 2020. By 2020, the NCF had 3 land use types: wooded/shrub savannahs (77.59%), open forest/wooded savannahs (22.23%), and croplands/fallows (0.18%). A total of 89 plant species belonging to 70 genera and 28 families were recorded within the NCF. The dominant species are: Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. and Combretum collinum Fresen. followed by Pteleopsissuberosa Engl. & Diels, Annona senegalensis Pers. The most common species are: Lannea acida A.Rich. s.l., A. senegalensis, Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertner subsp. paradoxa, C. collinum and Acacia dudgeonii Craib ex Holland. Due to its small area of just 40 hectares and its diverse plant life, this community forest of Savannahs Region is a significant biodiversity hotspot and warrants conservation efforts.

Community Forest, Floristic Diversity, Land Use Change, Biodiversity Hotspot, Tami, Savannah Region, Togo

Ehlui, S. , Anthony-Krueger, C. , Kola, E. , Atakpama, W. , Bah, A. , Wehrden, H. and Boukpessi, T. (2024) Mapping and Floristic Diversity of the Nakpadjouak Community Forest, Tami Canton, Togo (West Africa). Natural Resources, 15, 83-105. doi: 10.4236/nr.2024.154007.