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Successional dynamics shape tree diversity in evergreen forests of Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Constant Yves Adou Yao  and
François Munoz
Constant Yves Adou Yao*
Affiliation:
UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire
François Munoz
Affiliation:
Université Grenoble-Alpes, LECA, 2233 Rue de la Piscine, 38041Grenoble Cedex 9, France
*
Author for correspondence: *Constant Yves Adou Yao, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Disturbances and successional dynamics shape the composition of tree communities, but data remain scarce for tropical forests of West Africa. We assessed the imprint of past disturbances on the composition of evergreen forests in an Ivorian National Park. We hypothesized that (i) Pioneer indices (PI) based on the relative proportion of pioneer and non-pioneer trees relate to changing floristic composition due to successional dynamics, (ii) local community richness peaks at an intermediate value of PI under the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) and (iii) early successional communities have higher beta diversity due to erratic founder effects. We performed a Correspondence Analysis of tree composition of 38 plots and examined how the main components of floristic variation related to environmental factors and PI. In addition, we tested the relationship between PI, local richness and beta diversity. The variation of PI better explained the main components of floristic variation than abiotic environmental variation, supporting a primary role of successional dynamics in shaping tree communities. We found a peak of richness at intermediate values of PI, supporting the IDH, with a mixture and earlier and later-successional species and more even abundances. The communities were very diverse and included many endemics and rare species. The results underline that the composition of early successional forests greatly varies depending on chance colonization events, while more similar old-growth communities are eventually observed after several decades. The findings should guide management practices for forest restoration, and for conservation of endangered species depending on their successional status.

Keywords

Correspondence AnalysisCôte d’Ivoireecological successionIntermediate Disturbance Hypothesisrain forestTaï National Parktree species diversity
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 182 - 189
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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