The prospect of biodiversity conservation in cocoa agroforestry landscape, Ghana
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Date
2023
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Publisher
Ecological Laboratory
Abstract
Abstract
The adoption of cocoa agroforests in Ghana and other West African countries for biodiversity conservation
has not been conclusive. Though constituting major landscapes, cocoa agroforests are not fully adopted
for biodiversity conservation, despite the declining cover of protected forest areas that are considered as
biodiversity hotspots. We assessed the biodiversity conservation potential of cocoa agroforest farms relative
to a protected forest vegetation. Six plots were delineated in cocoa agroforest farms, and a plot in a protected
forest. Trees with a diameter of, at least, 5 cm at breast height (1.3m) were identified and counted in the
plots. Multiple quantitative general diversity measurements of species richness, Shannon index, Simpson
index and Sorensen’s plot similarity were estimated and compared among the plots. Though the protected
forest recorded the highest (2.74) for the Shannon index, some cocoa farms recorded higher measurements
as well (2.46 and 2.31). Three cocoa plots recorded higher values for Simpson index (0.92, 0.89 and 0.83)
than the protected area (0.73). Dominance was higher in the protected forest (0.127) than one cocoa plot
(0.098). The Sorensens’s index showed a wide variation in similarity among the cocoa farms, indicating
the possibility of management types. The finding indicates a potential for adopting cocoa agroforestry for
biodiversity conservation, yet, given the variations in diversity measures among the farms, further studies to
determine the management types and the mix of tree species diversity and abundance that yields the optimum
sustainability benefits must be conducted.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Protected forest, Shannon index, Simpson index, Sorenson’s coefficient, Species count, Species richness