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Cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire is generally based on “full sun” crops. However, the presence of traditional agroforestry systems based on cocoa (AFSc) has been highlighted in several regions including the Centre and Centre-West. This study aimed to provide information on the financial profitability and the potential economic value of simple, mixed and complex AFSc types identified in central Côte d’Ivoire. A socio-economic survey and direct observations carried out among farmers with these AFSc types, revealed an annual average cocoa production of 207.7 kgha−1 (i.e. US$323.9). This income does not vary significantly from one type to another. Fruit species associated with cocoa trees yield an average of US$32.39 ha-1yr-1. This fruit contribution is more important in simple AFSc than in the two other types. Considering the profitability of cocoa trees and associated species, no system is more profitable than the other. However, the potential economic value of the stored carbon and the other benefits that the complex AFSc type provides to farmers make this type more efficient and sustainable than the two others considering ecosystem services. We therefore recommend that payment for ecosystems services be considered if one would like to promote complex cocoa agroforestry systems in the study areas.

The potential of agricultural landscapes for tree species diversity conservation in perennial crop was examined in the Southeast of Cote d’Ivoire. Based on botanical survey of trees and shrubs species, the beta diversity has been assessed and diversity profile, species accumilation curves, and rank abundance have been compared from 70 plots of 500 m2 selected in the Yapo Protected Forest (YPF), a Voluntary Natural Reserve (VNR), the Community Forests (CF) and the four main crop systems: cocoa (Theobroma cacao), cola (Cola nitida), teck (Tectona grandis) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis). Results show that 7.3% of stems recorded in old forests can be met in all types of farm habitats. The YPF is more diverse than the other habitats. VNR, CF, and cola-cocoa-rubber farms have the same trees species diversity level when we considered only the most abundant spceies. Farms of rubber contribute to decreasing tree species diversity. In all habitat types, most species are scarce. The highly abundant species are non pioneer species in YPF and VNR, pioneer species in CF and exotic species in farms. A substantial number of tree species can be found on farms that is increasing beta diversity in the study area. Further researchs are required to determine the drivers of these results in the study area. Key words: Agroforestry, diversity profile, farmland, old growth forest, Cote d’Ivoire.

Human activities are recognized as potential threats to the survival of swamp forests and their resources in the rural environment of the GrandLahou Sub-Prefecture. This study proposes to question the relations between the riverside communities and these environments, in a perspective of valorization, use and sustainable management of these environments, as well as their resources. As part of a socioecological approach and based on a qualitative analysis, the information was collected through documentary research, direct observation and semi-structured group and individual interviews with administrative, customary and rural households. Near the swamp forests of the sub-prefecture of Grand-Lahou for a staff of one hundred and forty-three people (146). With systemic and phenomenological analysis tools, the processing and interpretation of the collected data were subjected to statistical data analysis and qualitative content analysis. Thus, the study made it possible to understand that the swamp forests of the subprefecture of Grand-Lahou are an element of the landscape characteristic of the natural, socio-economic and cultural inheritance of this sub-prefecture. They participate through their natural resources in the livelihoods of neighboring communities. For example, according to the data collected, 58.3% of the respondents use them as agricultural areas(perennial crops, food crops (rice, corn,) and vegetables). And for more than 80% of them, they constitute reserves of organic raw materials (lumber and construction, hunting, fishing, pharmacopoeia, fuel, etc.). However, among the accepted human activities of these environments, some, such assustainable agriculture, capitalist logging, hunting, gold panning and agricultural pollution with pesticides, constitute threats that lead to the disappearance or the degradation of these environments at the local level.Les activites humaines sont admises comme des menaces potentielles pour la survie des forets marecageuses et de leurs resources dans le milieur rural de la Sous-prefecture de Grand-Lahou. Cette etude se propose d’interroger les relations entre les communautes riveraines et ces milieux, dans une perspective de valorisation, d’utilisation et de gestion durable desdits milieux, ainsi que de leurs ressources. S’inscrivant dans une approche socioecologique et partant d’une analyse qualitative, les informations ont ete collectees a travers la recherche documentaire, l’observation directe et des entretiens semi-directifs de groupe et individuels aupres des autorites administratives, coutumieres et menages ruraux vivant a proximite des forets marecageuses de la sous-prefecture de Grand-Lahou pour un effectif de cent quarante-trois personnes (146). Avec les outils d’analyse systemique et phenomenologique, le traitement et l’interpretation des donnees recueillies ont ete soumis a l’analyse statistique des donnees et a l’analyse de contenu qualitative. Ainsi, l’etude a permis de comprendre que les forets marecageuses de la sous-prefecture de Grand-Lahou sont un element du paysage caracteristique du patrimoine naturel, socioeconomique et culturel de ladite sous-prefecture. Elles participent grâce a leursressources naturelles aux moyens d’existence des communautes riveraines en matiere d’alimentation, d’habitation, d’artisanat, pharmacopee, etc. Cependant, au nombre des activites humaines admises de ces milieux, certaines, telles que l’agriculture perenne, l’exploitation forestiere de type capitaliste, la chasse, l’orpaillage et les pollutions agricoles aux pesticides, constituent des menaces qui conduisent a la disparition ou a la degradation de ces milieux a l’echelle locale.

In this Letter, the middle initial of author G. J. Nabuurs was omitted, and he should have been associated with an additional affiliation: ‘Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands’ (now added as affiliation 182). In addition, the following two statements have been added to the Supplementary Acknowledgements. (1): ‘We would particularly like to thank The French NFI for the work of the many field teams and engineers, who have made extraordinary efforts to make forest inventory data publicly available.’ (1): ‘Sergio de Miguel benefited from a Serra- Húnter Fellowship provided by the Generalitat of Catalonia.’ Finally, the second sentence of the Methods section should have cited the French NFI, which provided a national forestry database used in our analysis, to read as follows: ‘The GFBi database consists of individual-based data that we compiled from all the regional and national GFBi forest-inventory datasets, including the French NFI (IGN—French National Forest Inventory, raw data, annual campaigns 2005 and following, https://inventaire-forestier.ign.fr/spip.php?rubrique159, site accessed on 01 January 2015)’. All of these errors have been corrected online. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Anthropization of Classified Forests (CF) is a recurrent phenomenon in Cote d'Ivoire. It particularly affects coastal forests including Monogaga classified forest. Currently, flora composition and vegetation structure are the only biological tools available to better appreciate impacts of anthropic pressures on Monogaga classified forest. Yet, fauna and more particularly terrestrial small mammals constitute an essential component of this forest. Thus, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of anthropization of Monogaga classified forest based on "terrestrial small mammal" model. We used conventional Sherman traps to fairly investigate terrestrial small mammal communities in four plots (A, B, C and D) subjected to different anthropogenic pressures through Monogaga classified forest. Plots A and B were more disturbed than plots C and D. We collected 66 specimens in 1920 trap nights. These specimens are distributed among seven rodent species Dephomys defua, Hybomys trivirgatus, Hylomyscus simus, Lophuromys sikapusi, Malacomys edwardsi, Mastomys erythroleucus and Praomys rostratus and one soricomorph Crocidura olivieri. Abundances of terrestrial small mammals are higher in plots C and D. In the same way, diversity indices decrease from the most conserved to the least conserved plots. However, differences in species richness are weak between plots. Hierarchical classification of the four plots based on small mammal’s assemblages allows a good segregation. This study confirms that "terrestrial small mammal" model can contribute to the assessment of anthropization of forest habitats in lower Cote d'Ivoire.

The Parks, Reserves and Classified Forests in Côte d’Ivoire are considered as to-be-conserved national natural patrimony. Their management seldominvolves the local communities who live around or inside them. Farming practices exert a continuously high pressure on forest cover. In the case of Monogaga, local people (the Wanne) were allowed to stay in the forest after ithad been declared classified. After a period of conflict between the Wanne and SODEFOR, the forest management authority, SODEFOR sought to understand why the Wanne people do not consider the entire forest as a patrimony to conserve and transfer to their children. The present study addresses this question. Local communities recognized several spatial units in the Monogaga Forest. The chiefs of lineage control and guarantee access to those units. In the subdivision of SODEFOR, each zone corresponds to aprecise designation: one for agriculture and another one for conservation. For SODEFOR, the forest ecosystems constitute a national patrimony to conserve while taking into accounts land rights and access to resources. For farmers,land that is inalienable and some of its resources (raphia swamp, kporo)constitute a patrimony of the lineage. In the latter case, the use of land and resources obey complexes access rules. Those traditional access rules to land and resources are still in use in Monogaga.

Natural and anthropogenic disturbances affect forest integrity and floristic composition. The resulting secondary habitats is characterised by liana and herb species which modified the forest physiognomy. To elucidate the floristic characteristics of these secondary forests, the present study was carried out after logging operations in the the Haut-Sassandra protected Forest. The inventory has been realised in 18 individual one ha in three level of logging operation. A total of 445 species have been identified. Floristics parameters vary according to the time after logging operation: from 255 in the south sector, 296 species in the center sector, 271 species in the north sector, 15 years after logging. The family diversity is between 56 and 62 with a predominance of Rubiaceae. Phytogeographic-types are characterized by Guinean-Congolese species (71,2 %), and species endemic to SavannahForest transition zone (14,6 %). The presence of herb and liana species which are pioneer and heliophile, could generate a micro climate favorable to the recovery of other forest plant species.

Objective: The Tanoé-Ehy Forest (FMTE) has been identified as a top priority site for primate conservation in West Africa. Pending the completion of the measures of its final classification in protected area, anthropic pressures are constantly nibbling the types of habitat that the FMTE contains. The objective of the present study was to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of this forest from 1986 to 2016. The study consisted in mapping and following through Landsat satellite images from 1986, 2000, and 2016 the dynamics of the land use that constitute the FMTE. To better understand the underpinnings of this evolution, based on anthropogenic threats, surveys were carried out in the five villages closest to the forest. Treatments show a 10% degradation of swamp forest area to degraded forests in 30 years. The habitats temporarily flooded forests remained intact during this 30 years period, reflecting efforts to maintain the integrity of the FMTE. Surveys have shown that the types of pressure and their intensity vary from peripheral villages. Overall, this involves wood harvesting and hunting. In view of the importance of the FMTE in terms of a particular ecosystem and the conservation of biodiversity, it is desirable and urgent that, in addition to awareness-raising campaigns for local populations, the process of its final ranking be accelerated to end its degradation.

In Côte d'Ivoire, Azagny National Park has a small forest elephants population, described as isolated, self-contained and whose survival depends on the diversity of local biological resources. A study was undertaken to assess the diversity of the plant species consumed and the feeding preference of this large mammal. Pedestrian surveys were carried out in the different biotopes traveled by the elephants during one year, in search of fresh and old traces of nutrition and droppings. As a result of these inventories, six organs of 282 plant species have been identified has consumed by elephant. In this plant species list, three families are the most represented: the Apocynaceae, the Euphorbiaceae and the Rubiaceae. Among the elephant diet, five species appear to be the most consumed: Aframomum melegueta (1.45%), Aframomum sceptrum (1.45%), Sacoglottis gabonensis (1.27%), Echinochloa pyramidalis (1.2%) and Albizia adianthifolia (1.2%). Considering the number and type of organs harvested from plants, the study reveals that they varied from one species to another well. In general, leaves (256 species 90.8%) and fruits (95 species or 33.7%) have emerged as the most consumed organs of elephants. In view of this diet importance in elephant survival in the park, it would be important to identify the type of species consumed seasonally and to assess their availability in each of the biotopes traveled.

In the area of Lakota (Midwest, Côte d'Ivoire), where the vegetation is a semi-deciduous forest, cacao growing is practiced by people from different origins. Cacao cropping techniques seem to be influenced by some social and cultural habits, according to the people and the agroecological areas. The present study aimed to understand(1) the cacao cropping systems and to identify(2) the reasons underlying the choice of vegetal species combined to cacao trees in these rural communities. To achieve this goal, interviews were realised with cacao farmers of four villages of the area. These interviews concern farmers’ profiles, the former agriculture practices, the variety of the cultivated cacao and the plants combined to cacao trees. The results show that among the 223 interviewed farmers, 72 (32.3% of the farmers) are natives, 42 (18.8% of the farmers) are immigrants and 109 (48.9% of the farmers) are non-native Ivorians. In total, 77 species regularly combined to cacao trees were named by the farmers and they can be divided into local species and exotic species. Plots ordination shows three agroforestry systems according to ethnic group of the locality. Cacao farms with the large proportion of local species are owned by Lakota native people "Dida". The exotic species are dominant in cacao farms that belong to immigrants (Malian, Burkina Faso and Guinean people) and "Malinké" people (a non-native ivorian ethnic group). The Akan people (a non-native ivorian ethnic group) combine in a same proportions exotic and local species in their cacao farms.

The Bingerville Botanical Garden is an urban green space which can contribute to the quality of the living environment and to attractivity of tourists in Abidjan city. Its floristic diversity and socio-economic and ecological benefits remain still unknown. The present study was conducted to assess botanical species diversity and the reduction of CO2 emissions in this space. Trees species with dbh ≥ 10 cm were recorded in 41 plots of 500 m² surveyed in four types of biotopes: two arboretums with 20 and 100 years old, one secondary forest with more than 100 years and a fallow of 20 years old. Floristic indices and aboveground biomass (AGB) were determined for each biotope. A total of 742 trees with dbh ≥ 10 were counted: 127 species. Preponderance species are Cassia siamea, Terminalia mantaly, Milicia excelsa and Ceiba pentandra in arboretums, Pentadesma butyracea and Acacia mangium in the secondary forest, Ficus exasperata and Borassus aethiopum in the fallow. Arboretums are richest (96 species), and they have more AGB (566.7 t/ha). The secondary forest has 71 species with an aboveground equal to 381.4 t/ha. The fallow is less rich (13 species) with an AGB of 21 t/ha. This study has shown the importance of Bingerville Botanical Garden in plant and fighting against climate change.