The prospect of biodiversity conservation in cocoa agroforestry landscape, Ghana

dc.contributor.authorAnsah, M.O.
dc.contributor.authorPabi, O.
dc.contributor.authorAyivor, J.S.
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-13T21:39:37Z
dc.date.available2023-07-13T21:39:37Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.descriptionResearch Articleen_US
dc.description.abstractAbstract 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.en_US
dc.identifier.issn08554307
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh:8080/handle/123456789/39558
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherEcological Laboratoryen_US
dc.subjectProtected foresten_US
dc.subjectShannon indexen_US
dc.subjectSimpson indexen_US
dc.subjectSorenson’s coefficienten_US
dc.subjectSpecies counten_US
dc.subjectSpecies richnessen_US
dc.titleThe prospect of biodiversity conservation in cocoa agroforestry landscape, Ghanaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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