Diversité et distribution d'abondances des plantes d'un écosystème protégé dans un paysage anthropisé: cas de la Réserve Naturelle Forestière de Bururi, Burundi

Abstract

Plant Diversity and Abundance Distribution of a Protected Ecosystem in an Anthropogenic Landscape: the Case of the Bururi Natural Forest Reserve of, Burundi. A study on plant species diversity and abundance distribution has been conducted in the Bururi Natural Forest Reserve (BNFR) in Burundi in order to improve species conservation. The BNFR is an ecosystem embedded in an anthropogenic matrix, close to Bururi city and to agricultural lands. It is a forest patch resulting from the fragmentation of a larger forest that once occupied the entire Congo- Nile Crest. This study tested the hypothesis according to which the plant species abundance distribution in conserved forests corresponds to a log normal distribution, indicating that species are regularly distributed in the ecosystem. This distribution model is generally observed in stable ecosystems in which inter-specific competition is considered less important. The observed abundance distribution of the plant species was therefore compared to a log normal, a log series and a broken stick distribution model. Six of the plant species recorded in this study are considered threatened in Burundi. The observed plant species abundance distribution was found similar to the log series model which suggests the impact of disturbance on the abundance distribution despite the status of the BNFR of protected ecosystem in an anthropogenic landscape.

Keywords

• Diversity index
• Abundance distribution model
• Bururi Forest Nature Reserve
• Congo
• Nile Crest