Plant Diversity of the Yaya Classified Forest in Southeastern Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

The objective of this study is to contribute to a better knowledge of the woody floristic diversity of the Yaya Classified Forest. The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn roughly define tropical woods, which are wooded landscapes in tropical places that may also be influenced by other variables like prevailing winds. Certain types of tropical forests are challenging to classify. While classification techniques based on tree canopy density are easily applied to temperate forests, they do not function well in tropical forests. The Yaya classified forest is situated between latitudes 5°36 and 5°49 in the north and 03°41 and 03°27 in the west. It occupies a tract of 23,879 hectares in the south-east of Côte d'Ivoire, in the Mé region and in the sub-prefecture of Oghlawapo.  As a result of this investigation, 167 species broken up into 134 distinct genera and 47 families were identified. The Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, and Rubiaceae were the most significant families. In degraded forest compared to thick forest, species density was greater. On the other hand, thick forests had a larger basal area than sites that had been reforested. In the reforestation zone, variety was greater. 21 species, or 12.42% of the total flora inventoried, were red-listed by the IUCN. The thick forest comprises a huge number of individuals for each diameter class. To further understand the vegetation of the Yaya categorized forest, inventories of all the flora in this forest region should be made as this study only considered the variety of woody flora.