Revisiting biotic and abiotic drivers of seedling establishment, natural enemies and survival in a tropical tree species in a West Africa semi-arid biosphere reserve

Mensah, Sylvanus; Noulèkoun, Florent; Dimobe, Kangbéni; Atanasso, Justin Akpovi; Salako, Kolawolé Valère; Assogbadjo, Achille Ephrem; Kakaï, Romain Glèlè

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111268

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The climate data consisted of the 19 Bioclimatic variables (Bio 1 to Bio19), which were downloaded from the climatologies at high resolution for the earth's land surface areas (CHELSA) dataset at a resolution of 1 km (Karger et al, 2017). We used hillshade (HILLSH) as a sole topographic attribute because it is calculated based on the consideration of aspect, slope, mean annual solar azimuth and altitude (Burrough and Mcdonnell, 1998;Mensah et al, 2020b). The HILLSH characterizes the intensity of illumination at a specific location.…”

Section: Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural diversity consistently mediates species richness effects on aboveground carbon along altitudinal gradients in northern Ethiopian grazing exclosures

Noulèkoun

Birhane

Mensah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural diversity consistently mediates species richness effects on aboveground carbon along altitudinal gradients in northern Ethiopian grazing exclosures

Noulèkoun

Birhane

Mensah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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“…For A. africana, this trend has been attributed to the sensitivity of the species seedling to fire, grazing, and drought stress that prevail in the Sudanian zone (Nacoulma et al 2017;Amahowe et al 2018). Potential effects of several other factors such as natural enemies and competition have been extensively discussed in Atanasso et al (2019) and Mensah et al (2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evol. 154 (3), 2021Mensah et al 2020). As such, individuals that have their terminal buds out of reach of browsing animals in the dry season are more likely to survive.…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By encountering only six juveniles of the species, the study also corroborates previous findings on the species recruitment challenge, which implies a need for an artificial regeneration strategy and the enrichment of its natural stands. In such a strategy, particular attention should be given to the protection of the planted seedlings against biotic and abiotic stressors (see Mensah et al 2020 for extensive discussion on data from a two-year monitoring in the study sites) to ensure a successful recruitment. Our findings also suggest that for artificial plantations of A. africana, careful attention should be given to seedlings and saplings to ensure that they successful recruit to the juvenile stage.…”

Section: Conclusion and Implications For Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial distribution patterns of Afzelia africana (Fabaceae – Detarioideae) in a tropical savanna of Benin: implications for management

Atanasso¹,

Salako²,

Mensah³

et al. 2021

Pl. Ecol. Evol.

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Background and aims – Understanding the spatial patterns and associations of tree species with their conspecific and heterospecific neighbours is critical for sustainable management of their stands. This study assessed the intra- and interspecific spatial structure of six life stages in Afzelia africana, a keystone multipurpose and endangered tree species in a tropical savanna of Benin.Material and methods – Three plots of 4 ha each were demarcated on three sites along a conservation gradient (hunting zone – core conservation zone). Individuals of A. africana (irrespective of their diameter at breast height) and heterospecific trees (dbh ≥ 5 cm) were mapped. Tree spatial patterns and associations were determined using univariate and bivariate pair correlation functions. The distance to the nearest neighbour was further used to assess tree-to-tree distance.Key results – We found variable spatial patterns across sites. In the core zone where wildlife density is high, most life stages had a random distribution. In contrast, in the hunting zone where wildlife density is low, the species spatial distribution changed from a predominantly aggregative pattern during early stages to a less aggregative or random spatial pattern for very large adults. Most pairs of life stages showed neutral associations, except for small and large adults, which had positive association between themselves on two sites. We also found that A. africana tree spatial distribution was unrelated to heterospecific trees.Conclusion – We suggest that bush fire, seed dispersion, predation, and local environment would have contributed to the observed patterns.

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“…Using an open-field experimental system that allowed the simulation of environmental conditions similar to projected future climate change [50], we investigated the physiological and growth responses of the Abies species to warming and increased water availability during the initial plant growth stage. We focused on the early growth stages because young plants, particularly seedlings, are highly sensitive to changes in biotic and abiotic factors and are subject to high mortality [51]. Moreover, the quality and growth performance of seedlings determine the long-term survival of plant communities [52,53].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological and Shoot Growth Responses of Abies holophylla and Abies koreana Seedlings to Open-Field Experimental Warming and Increased Precipitation

Noulèkoun

Khamzina

et al. 2022

Water

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Projected changes in temperature and precipitation in mid-latitude wet regions are expected to significantly affect forest ecosystems. We studied the physiological and shoot growth responses of Abies holophylla and Abies koreana seedlings to warming (3 °C above ambient temperature) and increased precipitation (irrigation with 40% of rainfall) treatments under open-field conditions. The physiological parameters, quantified by the net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and total chlorophyll content, were monitored from July to October 2018. Shoot growth (i.e., root collar diameter and height) was assessed in August and December 2018. Irrespective of the treatments, the physiological parameters of both species decreased from July to August under warming treatment due to heat stress before recovering in September and October. Warming alone (W) and warming along with increased precipitation (W*P) decreased the physiological activities of both species in July, August, and September, with more pronounced effects on A. koreana compared with A. holophylla. Increased precipitation resulted in the increased chlorophyll content of both species in October. Shoot growth was not generally affected by the treatments, except for a subtle reduction in height under W*P for A. koreana. A. holophylla had consistently higher values for the physiological parameters and shoot growth than A. koreana. Our results indicate that the physiological activities of the Abies species could be seriously reduced under climate change, with a more severe impact on A. koreana. Among the two species, A. holophylla appears to be a more robust candidate for future forest planting.

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Revisiting biotic and abiotic drivers of seedling establishment, natural enemies and survival in a tropical tree species in a West Africa semi-arid biosphere reserve

Cited by 10 publications

References 61 publications

Structural diversity consistently mediates species richness effects on aboveground carbon along altitudinal gradients in northern Ethiopian grazing exclosures

Structural diversity consistently mediates species richness effects on aboveground carbon along altitudinal gradients in northern Ethiopian grazing exclosures

Spatial distribution patterns of Afzelia africana (Fabaceae – Detarioideae) in a tropical savanna of Benin: implications for management

Physiological and Shoot Growth Responses of Abies holophylla and Abies koreana Seedlings to Open-Field Experimental Warming and Increased Precipitation

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