TITLE:
The Potential of Agroforestry Species Diversity and Abundance in a Disturbed Forest Reserve of Ogun State, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Ibrahim Ndaginna Abdullahi, Mutiu O. Bada
KEYWORDS:
Agroforestry, Species Diversity, Land Use, Gmelina
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.14 No.11,
November
5,
2024
ABSTRACT: Nigeria’s deforestation rate is at an alarming level due to weak forest governance, losing about 80 kha of natural forest cover per annum every year to agricultural land expansion, conflicts, and illegal logging. The expansion of agricultural land over other land use is over 50% and it is increasing. Agroforestry, as an option, offers a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that integrates forest trees into the agricultural landscape for the benefit of land users at all levels. This research aimed to assess the diversity and abundance of agroforestry tree species between the forest and farm zones at Edun Forest Reserve to improve agrobiodiversity by identifying tree species richness around farms in the reserve. A systematic sampling technique was used to sample plots, and relative dominance and important value index were determined. Results showed a significant difference between the species richness between the forest zone and farm zone of Edun Forest Reserve. On the important value index, Gmelina arborea (25.04) has the highest in the forest zone, while Cedrela odorata (0.661) is the least, and Tectona grandis (39.37) is the species with the highest in the farm zone Terminalia ivorensis (2.91) recorded the least. Combretaceae was identified as the most dominant family across the two zones. This research showed that appraisal of tree stand structure on farmlands is crucial for sustainable agroforestry management decisions in the forest zones of Nigeria.