Geographical patterns of woody plants' functional traits in Burkina Faso

Abstract

The West African vegetation zones from the Sahara desert to the Guinean rainforests are shaped by a steep latitudinal precipitation gradient. Their taxonomical and functional composition changes considerably along this gradient. Based on comprehensive distribution data from herbariun collections and relevés this paper presents modelled distributions of the 129 most frequent woody taxa of Burkina Faso with climatic, topographic and remote sensing parameters at a 1 km resolution as predictor variables. Subsequently we analysed this set of modelled distributions according to their functional composition. The resulting maps show clear geographical patterns for several key traits such as spinescence, plant size, flowering phenology and fruit type. The interactions between environmental factors and plant functional traits are discussed. ©CONSERVATOIRE ET JARDIN BOTANIQUES DE GENEVE 2013.