Figure 1.
Location of the forests in South Benin.
Table 1.
Dendrometric parameters of the natural forests.
| Parameters | Bonou Forest | Pobè Forest | Niaouli Forest | Prob. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | CV (%) | M | CV (%) | M | CV (%) | ||
| Density (N, stems ha−1) | 348.73a | 27.55 | 237.73b | 33.64 | 283.47b | 52.72 | 0.010 |
| Basal area (G, m2 ha−1) | 24.40a | 45.90 | 22.08a | 33.67 | 17.96b | 36.18 | 0.036 |
| Diameter (Dg, cm) | 24.93a | 29.93 | 28.47a | 8.44 | 25.81a | 21.90 | 0.168 |
| Height (Hl, m) | 21.42a | 20.43 | 22.97a | 17.59 | 18.63b | 13.53 | 0.000 |
Figure 2.
Diameter structure of the natural forests.
Table 2.
Diversity indices calculated for Bonou, Pobè and Niaouli forests.
| Diversity index | Forest of Bonou | Forest of Pobè | Forest of Niaouli |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree Species Richness (S) [(DBH) ≥ 10 cm] | 38 | 56 | 40 |
| Shannon Diversity Index (H') | 4.60 | 4.56 | 4.27 |
| Pielou’s Evenness (Eq) | 0.90 | 0.42 | 0.80 |
Table 3.
Average regeneration densities of Bonou, Pobè and Niaouli forests.
| Regeneration classes | Regeneration densities | Prob. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest of Bonou | Forest of Pobè | Forest of Niaouli | ||
| Seedlings (đbh < 10 mm) | 1233a | 1393a | 85b | 0.000 |
| Juveniles (10 mm < dbh < 50 mm) | 655a | 351a | 503a | 0.132 |
| Small poles (50 mm < dbh < 100 mm) | 118a | 346b | 190a | 0.000 |
| Overall average density (stems ha−1) | 2006a | 2090a | 779b | 0.000 |
Figure 3.
Venn diagram of woody species richness across forests.