Acacia communities and species responses to soil and climate gradients in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of West Africa |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Biology and Plant Ecology (LaBev), 09 BP 848, University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;2. Environmental and Agricultural Research Institute (INERA), 01 BP 476, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;3. FAO Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa, P.O. Box 5536, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia;4. Research Institute Senckenberg, Department of Botany and Molecular Evolution, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany;5. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany;6. Goethe University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Siesmayerstr. 70, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany;1. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Yaounde 1, P.O. Box 812 Yaounde, Cameroon;2. Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1-23, Wakaba-machi, Tsuruoka, Yamagata, 997-8555, Japan;3. Graduate School of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan;4. Research and Analytical Center for Giant Molecules, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, Japan;5. Department of Medicine and Traditional Pharmacopoeia, Faculty of medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde 1, P.O. Box 1364 Yaounde, Cameroon;1. Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa;2. Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa;3. Department of Statistics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa;4. Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa;1. KU Leuven, Zoological Institute, Naamsestraat 59, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium;2. Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Ikenobe, 761-0795 Miki, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Abiotic environmental factors have a major impact on the distribution and performance of plant species. In order to assess two major species–environmental relations in Sudano-Sahelian Acacia woodlands, we tested the relationship of soil and climate variables on plant diversity as well as on species responses.The indicator species values clustered in five vegetation units characterized by three to ten diagnostic species with woody species richness means varying from three to seven species per 0.09 ha. The NMS ordination explained 65% of the variation in species composition and revealed that soil properties, annual precipitations and temperature range structured the diversity of Acacia communities. Along the annual precipitations gradient, the response of Acacia polyacantha and Acacia hockii showed maxima in the wettest zone of our study area (more than 850 mm/year) whilst Acacia laeta showed a maximum response in the driest zone (below 500 mm/year). The unimodal response of A. hockii, Acacia gourmaensis and Acacia seyal to the soil available water gradient spanned their central borders, respectively from 13 to 18% (optimum 16%), 11–20% (optimum 15%) and 4–12% (optimum 7.5%).The response of Acacia communities and species to soil and climate gradients, makes them performant afforestation species in specific habitats of the Sudano-Sahelian zone. |
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