Natural regeneration of woody species in Acacia mangium and A. auriculiformis stands in Anguédédou, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract. Kouadio KR, Kougbo MD, Touré SG, Coulibaly B, N’guessan AK, Bakayoko A. 2024. Natural regeneration of woody species in Acacia mangium and A. auriculiformis stands in Anguédédou, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Asian J For 8: 174-183. In the current context of climate change, forest landscape restoration is promoted to reverse forest ecosystem degradation. In Côte d'Ivoire, leguminous plants, notably Australian Acacias, have been introduced since 1980 at Anguédédou to restore the fertility of degraded farmland. The introduction of Acacias was seen as a potential disturbance to the local flora, as these non-native species are sometimes invasive. However, observation of these Acacia-based landscapes revealed good regeneration of woody species. The aim of this study was to assess the natural regeneration of woody plants under Acacias stands and its relation with stand ages. We assessed the floristic composition and studied the dynamics of natural regeneration of local woody species in four Acacia stands as a function of age. The results showed that the most widespread family of naturally regenerating plants in Acacia stands is Fabaceae. We noted an increase in the number of species as a function of stand age. The number of species rose from 20 (3-year-old stand) to 51 (27-year-old stand), with 28 species and 24 species in the 8-year-old and 11-year-old stands respectively. In all stands, mesophanerophytes represent the dominant plant life form. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index of natural regeneration increased from 1.66±0.44 (3-year-old Acacia stand) to 2.45±0.36 (27-year-old Acacia stand). In contrast, as the Acacia stands aged, the regeneration index decreased, with values of 1 (for the 3-year-old and 8-year-old Acacia stands), 0.94 (for the 11-year-old Acacia stand) and 0.81 (for the 27-year-old Acacia stand). This study shows that Acacias improve the local flora by promoting natural regeneration and the development of woody species.