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Uses, Cultural Importance, and Fire Threat to Pseudocedrela kotschyi (Meliaceae): Evidence for the Availability Hypothesis in Benin (West Africa)

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Abstract

Pseudocedrela kotschyi is one of the most widely exploited species in Benin. Therefore, populations of the species are faced with the issue of human disturbance. This study investigated the ethnobotanical knowledge of the species in order to set sustainable management strategies. Individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 324 respondents in the three climatic zones of Benin according to two levels of abundance (low and high abundance) of the species per zone. Reported use values (RUV), importance score (IS), overall use values for each use category (UV), and overall cultural importance indices (CI) were calculated. Poisson family generalized linear models were used to identify the socio-environmental factors that determined the uses and the importance of the species. The results showed that climatic zone had a significant influence (p < 0.001) on the reported use values of P. kotschyi, whereas climatic zone (p = 0.032) and abundance status (p = 0.025) were the two factors that had a significant effect on the cultural importance of P. kotschyi. These findings support the availability hypothesis in ethnobotany. According to local knowledge, fire was the main threat to the species in natural habitats, and such local knowledge depended on ethnicity and education level. Overall, the results of this study can be used for the sustainable management of P. kotschyi.

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Data Availability

The datasets analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Laboratory of Ecology, Botany, and Plant Biology of the University of Parakou for its great support during the data collection and analysis. We acknowledged the contribution of Florent Sobakin, Osée Zoundoh, and Abel Olaye for the field data collection. Thierry D. Houehanou thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for its support through the equipment grant 3.4–8151/Houehanou (GA-Nr.) during the manuscript writing. We thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.

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The data collection was financially supported by the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Ecologie, de Botanique et de Biologie Végétale (LEB), Université de Parakou, 03, BP, 123, Parakou, Benin

    Tonankpon Aymar Guy Deguenonvo, Thierry D. Houehanou, Narcisse Yehouenou, Gérard N. Gouwakinnou & Armand K. Natta

  2. Ecole de Gestion et de Production Végétale et Semencière, Université Nationale d’Agriculture, BP, 43, Kétou, Benin

    Rodrigue Idohou

  3. Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations Forestières (LABEF), Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, 04, BP, 1525, Cotonou, Benin

    Rodrigue Idohou

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Contributions

Tonankpon Aymar Guy Deguenonvo and Thierry Houehanou designated and implemented overall the research. Rodrigue Idohou revised and improved the manuscript draft. Narcisse Yehouenou performed the data analyses along with the first author. All other authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Thierry D. Houehanou.

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Prior to the study, oral consent was obtained from the participants to share their knowledge after explaining the objectives of the study and the data we collected. However, during the interviews, the cultural norms were respected, and specific detailed local knowledge was protected.

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Deguenonvo, T.A.G., Houehanou, T.D., Idohou, R. et al. Uses, Cultural Importance, and Fire Threat to Pseudocedrela kotschyi (Meliaceae): Evidence for the Availability Hypothesis in Benin (West Africa). Econ Bot 77, 305–323 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-023-09581-y

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