Woody plant diversity and stand structure in the comoe-leraba reserve, southwestern burkina faso (West Africa)

The Comoe-Leraba reserve has been poorly managed or is under threat through increasing human populations settled along their boundaries. These behaviours towards the protected area lead to depletion of it resources. The objective of this study was to assess the vegetation structure in this protected area which reflected the features described above until 1997, when the management of the forest was conceded for an integrated management. A balanced completely randomized design was established in the ten plant communities of the reserve. The plots were 50×20 m2 in size expect for termite mound vegetation, S = π R2 corresponding to surface of the plot for termite mounds limited in the radius (R) of termite mound and 10×50 m2, for the string-course of rivers. All woody individuals were recorded in each plot with their dbh and height. High species richness was recorded in the communities (46% of native woody species found in Burkina Faso and 64% of native woody species found in the Southwest of the country) with high beta diversity. The structure of woody species communities had a good trend. However, this forest still needs special environmental management support because many species occur at very low densities. So, the integrated management could help to protect them against extinction. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.