Abstract:
The study was undertaken in the Afadjato Community Forest Conservation Area
between August 2010 and June 2011 with the following objectives:
1. To document and analyse the diversity of plants in the Afadjato Community
Forest Conservation Area.
2. To undertake a quantitative ethnobotanical study of traditional knowledge
and plant use among local people living in the study area.
3. To explore the relationship between plant diversity and use; and
4. To determine the conservation and ecotourism implications of the study on
the future of Afadjato as a conservation and ecotourism site .
The
ethnobotanical
information
was
collected
through
semi-structured
questionnaire interviews administered to 133 informants (age range 40-80 years,
mean age of 55 years). The interviews were conducted in the informant‟s homes
thereby covering a total of 28 households out of the 159 households in the three
communities studied. The questionnaire sought for information on age and
gender of the respondents, which plant parts are harvested and used, where they
are collected, and cultivation status of the plants. This data was analysed using
the following parameters: Informant Consensus Factor (F ic ), Use-Value (UV),
and Fidelity Level (FL) of the species.
Sampling points of 100 m apart from the bottom of the hill to the summit were
established along three transects. At each point, plots measuring 25m x 25m, 5m
x 5m, and 1m x 1m were demarcated giving 96 plots in all. Trees with Girth at
Breast Height (GBH≥10cm) were identified, counted and heights determined in
the 25m x 25m plots. Shrubs with (GBH≥3cm) were recorded in the 5m x 5m
plots, and herbs were recorded on the 1m x 1m plots. The data obtained was
analysed using the following parameters: Density, Relative density, Frequency,
and Relative frequency. Species diversity was expressed as Shannon diversity
index and Shannon diversity index.
A total of 166 plant species belonging to 53 families were identified as mostly
used by the people in the following use-categories: Building (25.2%), Human
food (23.3%), Household items (19.9%), Fuelwood (15.8%), and Medicine
(15.8%). The plant families Fabaceae, Apocynaceae and Euphorbiaceae provided
most of the plant parts used by the communities around the study site. Trees were
the most widely used group. The stem was the plant part mostly used by the
people.
The F ic values of the present study ranged from (0.52-0.68) indicating
that there was a high agreement in the use of plants in all the use-categories under
consideration among users. Out of the 169 reported plants species, 99 of them
had the highest fidelity level (FL) of 100%. The most important species
according to their use-values was Khaya species (0.86).
A total of 269 species (trees 100, shrubs 96, and herbs 73) were present in a total
of 96 plots (25m x 25m (30), 5m x 5m (33), and 1m x 1m (33)) established along
3 transects. The Fabaceae family had the most represented species in the trees,
shrubs and the herbs. The mean stand density of all the species present in the
study site was 3.38 ±0.09.
The Shannon diversity was lower in the herbs (0.81) than the shrubs (0.86) but
decreased again in the trees (0.81). In a similar vein the Simpson‟s diversity for
the herbs, shrubs, and trees was (-0.05), (3.48), and (1.06) respectively inferring
that the study site has relatively high plant species diversity. There was a
decrease in diversity of herbs, shrubs and trees with altitude in all the three
transects. This trend was also seen in the westwards to eastwards direction.
Herbaceous species that occurred in all the 3 transects include:
Griffonia
simplicifolia, Phaulopsis parviflora and Smilax longiflora. Shrubs that occurred
in all the 3 transects include:
Byrsocarpus coccineus, Chromolaena odorata,
Lophira lanceolata, Mallotus oppositifolia, Olax subcorpioides, Pterocarpus
malbraedii, Sterculia tragacantha and Carpolobia lutea. It was observed that 65
tree species were relatively small and had a Girth at Breast Height of between
10cm-70cm. They included: Albizia sp, Argocoffeopsis rupestris, Securidaca
longiflorum, and Sterculia sp. The range of tree species count per 25m x 25m
plot was from 6 to 16 and the mean tree height recorded in this study was
19.12m. Twenty-two tree species occurred in all the 3 transects studied and
included: Albizia spp, Baphia pubescens, Bridelia ferruginea, Cola spp,
Crossopterix febrifuga, Dacleodes kleineana and Dialium guineense among
others.
It is suggested that the plant families Fabaceae, Apocynacece and Euphorbiaceae
should be closely monitored to guarantee their sustainable use in the light of their
intense utilization by the people of the study area. This monitoring exercise can
provide insights for the development of policies and practice that may help to
prevent comparable levels of forest loss and degradation elsewhere in the country
through unsustainable use.