Monitoring Forest Vegetation and Carbon Change in the Upper Guinea Forest (UGF) - Tai National Park, and the Cavally Nature Reserve

This database is a combination of sets of Plant data generated in the Upper Guinea Forest specifically in the Tai National Park, and the Cavally Nature Reserve both in Cote D’Ivoire. The timeline for this database was planned for September 2022 to October 2024. This project was funded by USAID through Tetra Tech/West Africa Biodiversity and Low Emission Development and implemented by Reptile and Amphibian Program Sierra Leone (RAP-SL), under a project titled: “Building Capacity to Monitor Forest Vegetation and Carbon Change in the Upper Guinea Forest through Permanent Sample Plots”. This project is controlled and managed under project number: WABiLED-G-003-RAP-SL. At the Tai National Park, two one-hectare permanent plots were sampled at the lowland rainforest (1-ha at the park axes in Djouroutou, and 1-ha in the centre part of the park at the Chimpanzee research station) and twenty temporal plots sampled at the lowland rainforest of Cavally Nature Reserve. All plots, followed Forest Plots methodology (www.forestplots.net). The one-hectare plot sizes were square of 100 x 100 m and Coordinates (latitude, longitude and altitude) of all plots were recorded at the four corners of each plot. Plots were selected based on physical and human factors like climate, altitude, and slopes. All plots (permanent and temporal) were in well managed protected areas. Plot data was replicated independently using quadrants. Diameter of all trees in each plot (DBH ≥ 10 cm (100 mm) were recorded with the help of a diameter tape and tagged with a continuous serial number. Tree height of 60 trees, ten trees per diameter class were measured DBH 10 – 20 cm, 21 – 30 cm, 31 – 40 cm, 41 – 50 cm, 51 – 60 cm and >60 cm with the help of a Forestry Pro II Rangefinder. Temporal plot data were collected in smaller plots of 20 x 50 m. Plots were selected base on the degree of forest used. Young growth forest was classified as fallow land for 5 – 7 years and old growth forest as fallows for 10 – 15 years. All trees with diameter (DBH ≥ 10 cm) (100 mm) were measured with the aid of a diameter tape and height measured using Forestry Pro II Rangefinder. Trees in temporal plots were not tagged. Temporal plots were georeferenced at a single start point (latitude, longitude and altitude). Specimens of doubtful species in the survey were collected, press, dried and identified at the National Herbarium of Côte d’Ivoire hosted by the Centre National de Floristique (CNF) de l’Université Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY, Côte d’Ivoire using matching specimens in the herbarium, floras and monographs (Hawthorne and Jongkind, 2006, Hawthorne and Gyakari, 2006, Hutchinson, J., Dalziel et al., 1954-1972). Specimens for well-known species were not collected. Photographs of some species were captured. In the field and herbarium, specimens were identified by a Botanist (Moses N. Sainge) and Botanist from CNF (Djan Arthur Philippe, Akaffou Vanessa). Taxonomy identification followed Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) IV (2016) and the African Plant database (version 4.0.0, http://africanplantdatabase.ch.>). The current database is based on plot surveys, morphospecies identification, physical specimens and observations in permanent and temporal sample plots. In all, a total of 1881 occurrence records are presented in this database, accounting to one class, 15 orders, 44 families, 112 genera and 172 species. Data was collected at 5 sites: Centre de Research and Djouroutou in Tai National Park and Block 7, 8 and 9 at Cavally Nature Reserve. All in lowland rainforest. This database will be hosted by GBIF South Africa, published by Reptile and Amphibian Program Sierra Leone (RAP-SL), and will be made available to Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) portal for visibility.