Spatio-temporal dynamics of suitable habitats for Detarium microcarpum Guill. & Perr. (Caesalpiniaceae), a priority food tree species in Benin (West Africa).

Abstract

Detarium microcarpum (Caesalpiniaceae) is a priority, multipurpose, and indigenous food tree species in West Africa. However, data related to its efficient conservation and sustainable use, through changing ecological environments, are still lacking. Thus, species occurrence records were combined with climatic and soil data in Maximum Entropy (Maxent), a species distribution modelling algorithm, to evaluate the impacts of future environmental conditions (under CNRM-CM5 and HadGEM2-ES) on the species’ potential distribution in Benin. Results indicated that the species’ present potential distribution range was mainly found in the Sudanian and Sudano-Guinean ecological regions. Some extensions and retractions of the present-day distribution (lowly, moderately and highly suitable habitats) were noted under future climates based on the two scenarios. Introduction of D. microcarpum in suitable habitats are required for its efficient conservation in West Africa.