Population structure of two bamboo species in relation to topographical units in the Republic of Benin (West Africa): implications for sustainable management

Status of bamboo species (Poaceae) (Kunth) in Menoua, Agroecological Zone 3 of Cameroon

“…The bamboos are said to be growing in clumps or sympodial form where very old bamboos are found in the centre of the clumps with young shoots on the periphery. This particular type of spatial distribution is reported by many authors (Nath et al, 2015;Tovissodé et al, 2015;Yigardu et al, 2016;Yuen et al, 2017;Terefe et al, 2019;Nfornkah et al, 2020).…”

“…Authors Menuoa. Tovissodé et al (2015) however, find a significant difference between wetlands and plateaus (p < 0.001) on bamboo species development indicating a strong influence of the topographical units on the relative neighbourhood density. Most bamboo species were found distributed around valleys with high humidity.…”

“…The global management of natural resources with respect to the increasing demography relying on these resources is a call for concern (Tovissodé et al, 2015;Honfo et al, 2015;Gadinga et al, 2020), especially when millions of local population livelihoods solely depend on these resources for food, medicine, energy and other socioeconomic and cultural aspects (Gadinga et al, 2019;Gadinga et al, 2020). Bamboos constitute one of the few selected categories of plants which are taxonomically related, very rich in species (1642) (Vorontsova et al, 2016) and of vital economic and ecological importance (Yigardu et al, 2016;Canavan et al, 2017;Yuen et al, 2017;Huy and Trinh, 2019;Nfornkah et al, 2020).…”

“…ladders, etc. ), and other art works like sculpting of musical instruments (Cottingham, 2011;Honfo et al, 2015;Tovissodé et al, 2015;Nath at al., 2015;Akoto et al, 2018), building fishtraps and shelter in the traditional fishing locals (Ingram et al, 2010;Tovissodé et al, 2015;Neba et al, 2020). Bamboo conserves soil moisture, as it has the ability to recharge underground water and maintain surface water, prevent soil erosion because of its well-developed rhizome or root system (Terefe et al, 2019); sequester carbon, and thus mitigate climate change (Du et al, 2010;Song et al, 2011;Nath et al, 2015;Yuen et al, 2017;Terefe et al, 2019;Nfornkah et al, 2020).…”

“…Sustainable management can only be achieved with real statistics on the population structure and dynamics (Canavan et al, 2017;Zhao et al, 2018;INBAR 2018;Tchamba et al, 2020). Several studies have been done especially in Asia-Pacific (Nath et al, 2015;Yuen et al, 2017;Terefe et al, 2019) but little has been done elsewhere, particularly in Africa (Tovissodé et al, 2015;Honfo et al, 2015;Gurmessa et al, 2016;Nfornkah et al, 2020). In Cameroon, despite its importance, limited studies have been reported on the occurrence, distribution, availability, and utilisation of bamboo in Cameroon (Ingram et al, 2010, Ingram andTieguhong, 2013;Nfornkah et al, 2020;Neba et al, 2020;Tchamba et al, 2020) making it difficult to put in place a management strategy.…”