Abstract
Tropical forest ecosystems are generally seen as diverse ecosystems with rich biodiversity. However, how this applies to the freshwater swamp forests (especially in West Africa) is largely unknown. To verify how diverse this ecosystem is and how its structure varies in an intact forest landscape, one hectare forest plots were set up at 8 different points. This was used to collect information on the diversity and structure of the ecosystem. Consistent with the findings from other freshwater swamp forests, the ecosystem was seen to have a low species occurrence which ranged from 4 to 19 (mean value = 11 species) across the forest plots. Its diversity was equally low (mean = 1.66), unlike other tropical forest ecosystems. Stem heights varied as in mature tropical forest ecosystems; with the middle stratum recording the highest proportion of trees (54.63%) and the emergent layer having the least (0.83%). Its basal area, biomass and relative density were similar with other tropical ecosystems and equally had its highest species contribution from Leguminosae as in some other ecosystems as well. The ecosystem was seen to have features and characteristics that were common and similar with other tropical forest ecosystems, apart from its low diversity. Ensuring that effective and appropriate forest-tree species conservation measures are enhanced across the landscape are vital steps to securing the already existing (few) species and preventing species extinction across the ecosystem.
Highlights
IntroductionThis could be broadly estimated to be more than 100 species per hectare
Tree species in tropical forests are varied at different spatial scales and characterized with high diversity across the Tropics and Neotropics
Tropical forest ecosystems are generally seen as diverse ecosystems with rich biodiversity
Summary
This could be broadly estimated to be more than 100 species per hectare Though the African forests are composed of large tree biomass, its diversity has been reported to be relatively poor compared to higher diversities in Asian and American forests (Parmentier et al, 2007; Chuyong et al, 2011; Malhi et al, 2013) While this could be attributed to climate (mainly annual rainfall and rainfall seasonality) (Francis & Currie, 2003; Field et al, 2005; Parmentier et al, 2007), a good baseline is yet to be established for its diversity as only few systematic studies have been conducted in the region regarding the basic attributes such as biomass, species diversity and structure (Parmentier et al, 2007; Chuyong et al, 2011; Gourlet-Fleury et al, 2013; Malhi et al, 2013; Peh et al, 2014). While some studies in Nigeria have enumerated the diversity and species composition of different forest sites (Ihenyen et al, 2009; Ihuma et al, 2011; Adekunle et al, 2013; Ogbemudia et al, 2013; Udofia et al, 2014), studies that systematically showed the species diversity and structural baselines with particular reference to the freshwater swamp ecosystem are still much needed
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