Abstract:
We assessed impacts of climatic variability, land cover and proximity of river on
the ecology and population structure of Vitex doniana Sweet in Benin (West Africa) in order to
provide relevant information for its sustainable management and conservation in the context of
global change. Numbers of contacts and numbers of adult individuals per contact of the species
along transects revealed through negative binomial model that even though the species is present
in all climatic zones, it does not show preference to a particular zone, but it is more frequent in
mosaics of croplands and fallows (MCF) and in areas at less than 500 m to river. Analyses of
floristic composition, suggested that V. doniana occurs globally in different woody plant
communities regarding climatic zones, land cover types and distance to the closest river.
Significant interaction effects of climatic zone and land cover type were noted on structural
parameters (mean diameter and basal area) of V. doniana with the highest values in the
Sudanian MCF (46.11±23.83 cm and 3.35±3.07 m2 ha−1). Moreover, diameter structures revealed
globally a predominance of relatively young individuals (dbh ≤ 20 cm) of the species. Although
studied environmental factors do not have significant effect on densities of the species (adult and
regeneration), the relatively low values recorded may lead to a rapid decline of its populations in
future. Sustainable management practices should be thought to favour and preserve the
regeneration of the species for it conservation.
