Prospect of Milicia excelsa (Welw.) C. Berg for Multi-Tree Species Agroforestry

Population structure and conservation of Cola nitida and Garcinia kola in a West African rainforest area

“…The results indicated that both species can coexist with other species and this suggests that it could be suitable for agroforestry practices. The species diversity has long been used to characterise the taxonomic structure of communities, and the findings of this study agree with that reported by Onefeli and Agwu (2015) and Garrity (2006), that a woody tree species is justified to be used for multiple tree agroforestry if it supports the existence of other woody species around its niche. Herbs, shrubs and some lesser‐known species recorded the highest population among all the accompanying species with C. nitida and G. kola encountered in the study area.…”

“…This study identified 84 and 71 plant species as accompanying spe- the findings of this study agree with that reported by Onefeli and Agwu (2015) and Garrity (2006), that a woody tree species is justified to be used for multiple tree agroforestry if it supports the existence of other woody species around its niche. Herbs, shrubs and Reserve in Ghana.…”

“…some lesser-known species recorded the highest population among all the accompanying species with C. nitida and G. kola encountered in the study area. Therefore, this result supports the assertion byOnefeli and Agwu (2015) andOni and Hall (2010) that lesser-known species are less prone to exploitation by humans, thus justifying their abundance in the study sites. The differences in the population of the accompanying trees may be attributed to the aftermath effect of human impacts on the environment and the identified economic importance of the species.…”

“…To enumerate all the plant species associated with the subject species, the closer a plant species was to C. nitida or G. kola , the more associated it is considered to be with the subject species. To delimit the plant species associated with the targeted species, a search radius method used by Sabitti and Cobbina (1992) and described by Onefeli and Agwu (2015) was employed. The search radius (SR) is the distance from the targeted trees within which all other species are considered as associated with the targeted species.…”

“…The search radius (SR) is the distance from the targeted trees within which all other species are considered as associated with the targeted species. It was calculated as SR = 7/4 × CD, where CD is the crown diameter of the subject tree (Onefeli & Agwu, 2015). Crown diameters of the targeted species were measured using 50 m tape for the estimation of the search radius and were done for every individual targeted species.…”