This database is devoted to forest species found in southern Benin. Forest species ensure the balance of the ecosystems that belong to them and are of great importance for the survival of humanity (Ganglo J. C., 2005).
The Republic of Benin covers the major part of the 'Dahomey Gap' which is an interruption of the dense forest on the coast of West Africa. Few biogeographical regions have been the subject of an enigma comparable to the phenomenon of the "Dahomey Gap" in this part of the West African coast where the savanna comes directly into contact with the coastal strips. The climate is particularly dry (less than 1000 mm per year towards the southwest). The vegetation is in the form of a mosaic of forests, savannahs and fields.
Benin has fairly limited forest resources (Kodjoli et al., 2009). These meager resources are in the grip of alarming degradation (Aoudji & Ganglo, 2006). Indeed, according to the latest figures, Benin is losing an average of 65,000 ha of forest per year (FAO, 2005). It is therefore important to better control the available forest resources.
These are observationnal data collected during field work. The geographic coordinates were taken with a GPS. Once the data was collected in the field, all the information collected was carefully digitized. A correct data entry verification followed. Scientific names have also been checked for accuracy.
Taxonomic coverage
For this database, the identifications are reflected in the analytical flora of Benin (Akoègninou, 2006). In total, eight (08) families have been designated. These are: Annonaceae
Cannabaceae, Combretaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae and Moraceae (Fig. 5).
Temporal coverage
The occurrences of this database covers the period from 2007 to 2017.
Dataset description
This database focuses mainly on forest species in southern Benin. All occurrences are entered by several: Occurrence ID, CollectionCode, CatalogNumber. The database also includes the name of the institution that coordinated the work, the complete taxonomy, the names of the collectors and many other important information: dates (Day, month, year), regions, countries, exact sites, longitudes and latitudes converted to decimal degrees. This base can be used for various studies. Indeed, it can be used in studies that focus on the diversity of forest species (species richness, distribution models), spatial distribution and ecological niche modeling.
Object name: The main forest species encountered in southern and central Benin, west Africa
Ressource link : https://www.gbif.org/dataset/aff3a10a-a86b-4eff-98e4-d63f92fd6f7e
DOI : 10.15468/sr46ah
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Project ID http://jrsbiodiversity.org/jrs-supports-capacity-development-uac-oxford-2018/ http://jrsbiodiversity.org/grants/uac-2018/
Publication date December 14, 2021
Metadata last modified December 14, 2021
Hosted by GBIF Benin
Licence CC BY 4.0