Plant biodiversity patterns along a climatic gradient and across protected areas in West Africa

Da, Sié Sylvestre; Sommer, Jan Henning; Thiombiano, Adjima; Zizka, Georg; Dreßler, Stefan; Schmidt, Marco; Chatelain, Cyrille; Barthlott, Wilhelm

doi:10.1111/aje.12517

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…for Ivory Coast: Aké Assi 2002 , for Togo: Brunel et al 1984 ). Vegetation is influenced by a steep rainfall gradient that increases from the Sahara desert towards the coastal rainforests in the south, expressed in a series of vegetation zones forming parallel bands in an East-West direction throughout West Africa (Barthlott et al 2007 ; Da et al 2018 ; Hahn-Hadjali et al 2010 ; White 1983 ; Linder et al 2012 ). At the southern border of the Sahara desert lies the Sahel, with dry savannas of thornbushes and low grasses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping mycological ignorance – checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa

et al. 2020

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Scientific information about biodiversity distribution is indispensable for nature conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. For several groups of animals and plants, such data are available, but for fungi, especially in tropical regions like West Africa, they are mostly missing. Here, information for West African countries about species diversity of fungi and fungus-like organisms (other organisms traditionally studied by mycologists) is compiled from literature and analysed in its historical context for the first time. More than 16,000 records of fungi representing 4843 species and infraspecific taxa were found in 860 publications relating to West Africa. Records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database (2395 species), and that of the former International Mycological Institute fungal reference collection (IMI) (2526 species) were also considered. The compilation based on literature is more comprehensive than the GBIF and IMI data, although they include 914 and 679 species names, respectively, which are not present in the checklist based on literature. According to data available in literature, knowledge on fungal richness ranges from 19 species (Guinea Bissau) to 1595 (Sierra Leone). In estimating existing species diversity, richness estimators and the Hawksworth 6:1 fungus to plant species ratio were used. Based on the Hawksworth ratio, known fungal diversity in West Africa represents 11.4% of the expected diversity. For six West African countries, however, known fungal species diversity is less than 2%. Incomplete knowledge of fungal diversity is also evident by species accumulation curves not reaching saturation, by 45.3% of the fungal species in the checklist being cited only once for West Africa, and by 66.5% of the fungal species in the checklist reported only for a single country. The documentation of different systematic groups of fungi is very heterogeneous because historically investigations have been sporadic. Recent opportunistic sampling activities in Benin showed that it is not difficult to find specimens representing new country records. Investigation of fungi in West Africa started just over two centuries ago and it is still in an early pioneer phase. To promote proper exploration, the present checklist is provided as a tool to facilitate fungal identification in this region and to aid conceptualisation and justification of future research projects. Documentation of fungal diversity is urgently needed because natural habitats are being lost on a large scale through altered land use and climate change.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping mycological ignorance – checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa

et al. 2020

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“…An exploration of alpha diversity patterns at multiple grain sizes can discriminate between areas where species richness is consistently high or low across grain sizes, and those where it is not, i.e., where species richness is either high at fine grains and low at coarse grains, or vice versa 9,10,24,25 . This may provide insights into the prevailing mechanisms that shape biodiversity distribution at different scales, and which produce and maintain global plant diversity 11,26 . For example, the discrepancies between alpha diversity patterns at different grains could indicate regional or biome-related variation in the roles of habitat heterogeneity, dispersal barriers or environmental filtering [27][28][29] .…”

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Global patterns of vascular plant alpha diversity

et al. 2022

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Global patterns of regional (gamma) plant diversity are relatively well known, but whether these patterns hold for local communities, and the dependence on spatial grain, remain controversial. Using data on 170,272 georeferenced local plant assemblages, we created global maps of alpha diversity (local species richness) for vascular plants at three different spatial grains, for forests and non-forests. We show that alpha diversity is consistently high across grains in some regions (for example, Andean-Amazonian foothills), but regional ‘scaling anomalies’ (deviations from the positive correlation) exist elsewhere, particularly in Eurasian temperate forests with disproportionally higher fine-grained richness and many African tropical forests with disproportionally higher coarse-grained richness. The influence of different climatic, topographic and biogeographical variables on alpha diversity also varies across grains. Our multi-grain maps return a nuanced understanding of vascular plant biodiversity patterns that complements classic maps of biodiversity hotspots and will improve predictions of global change effects on biodiversity.

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“…There are quite a number of studies from Africa making use of ENMs in conservation planning (Da et al., 2018; Freeman et al., 2018; Gaisberger et al., 2017; Iloh & Ogundipe, 2016). Here, we have employed ENM approaches to understand the vulnerability of a threatened taxon to climate change effects as well as identification of areas to prioritize for future field surveys in search for new populations or species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climatic change on the potential geographic distribution of the threatened West‐Central African endemic genus, Talbotiella

2021

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Climate change is considered to be a leading cause of species extinction, yet the likely effects of climate change on geographic distributions and conservation status of many threatened African plants have not seen detailed evaluation. Here, we used ecological niche modelling approaches to explore and evaluate climate change effects on potential geographic distributions of plants of the threatened West-Central African genus Talbotiella. Our models showed that suitability was lower in the northern parts of its range in West Africa and at it's southern extremes in West-Central Africa. Areas of West Africa between Liberia and southwestern Ghana were identified as potentially suitable areas where new populations or species of the genus could be discovered. Our model transfers to future conditions showed range shifts and contractions in the geographic distribution of the genus; species of the genus are threatened by additional factors such as habitat loss or degradation, agriculture and development of industrial infrastructure.Although species of the genus will likely persist in protected areas, conservation efforts should also include ex situ conservation approaches, particularly as regards individual species in the genus. This study shows how niche modelling approaches could be used to enhance the conservation and discovery of African biodiversity.

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Plant biodiversity patterns along a climatic gradient and across protected areas in West Africa

Cited by 7 publications

References 73 publications

Mapping mycological ignorance – checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa

Mapping mycological ignorance – checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa

Global patterns of vascular plant alpha diversity

Effects of climatic change on the potential geographic distribution of the threatened West‐Central African endemic genus, Talbotiella

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