Etotepe A. Sogbohossou

Senghor University · Department of Environment

Local trade remains a data poor component of wildlife crime that must be better understood for more effective combat against the illegal wildlife trade. We assessed the distribution of wildlife markets, diversity of species traded and the extent of the trade chain through spatial analysis of wildlife sale sites and semi-structured interviews with 7...

Species distribution modelling (SDM) is essential for understanding and predicting biodiversity patterns globally. However, the complexities of data preparation, algorithm selection and model evaluation can present significant challenges. This paper introduces NIMO, an R package with a user‐friendly graphical interface aimed at streamlining the ent...

The Pendjari Biosphere Reserve is one of the protected areas of Benin where biodiversity conservation policies intertwine with the economic development of local populations. It is located in the Atacora region in northern Benin, which has a high prevalence of poverty and food insecurity among households. Agriculture and livestock farming are the pr...

Knowledge of the large carnivore guild is important in view of a possible lion reintroduction into the Comoé National Park (CNP), northern Côte d’Ivoire. We used camera trapping to assess activity patterns, habitat selection, and ecological factors influencing the occupancy of the spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta. Our results showed that the presence...

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of...

Molecular tools are increasingly applied for assessing and monitoring biodiversity and informing conservation action. While recent developments in genetic and genomic methods provide greater sensitivity in analysis and the capacity to address new questions, they are not equally available to all practitioners: There is considerable bias across insti...

The civil war in Côte d'Ivoire led to a hike in human disturbances and the extirpation of African lion Panthera leo from the Comoé National Park (CNP). After the war, many efforts have been made to restore this ecosystem and management is considering the reintroduction of lions. In a participatory management with people at the center of conservatio...

Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (PBR), a primary component of the W-Arly-Pendjari transboundary biosphere reserve, represents the largest intact wild ecosystem and pristine biodiversity spot in West Africa. This savannah ecosystem has long been affected by fire, which is the main ecological driver for the annual rhythm of life in the reserve. Understand...

A rise in human disturbance in Comoé National Park (CNP) has led to lion ( Panthera leo ) extirpation. After the crisis, there have been numerous efforts to restore this ecosystem and CNP's management authority is considering reintroducing lions. This ideally requires an understanding of the earlier process of lion extirpation. We assessed the caus...

Lions are one of the world’s most iconic species but are threatened with extinction. Developing effective range-wide conservation plans are crucial but hampered by the relative lack of knowledge on specific threats facing each population and the socio-political context for conservation. Here, we present a range-wide examination of the relative frag...

With the rapid degradation of biodiversity worldwide, protected areas, especially transboundary ones, represent crucial safe places for wildlife. Through the example of lion conservation and research in the WAP ecosystem, spanning between Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger in West Africa, the current synthesis presents the successes and challenges of th...

The civil war in Côte d’Ivoire between 2002 and 2010 led to a hike in human disturbances and the disappearance of African lions (Panthera leo) from the Comoé National Park (CNP). After the crisis, many efforts to conserve and restore this ecosystem and its biodiversity have been made and the management authority is considering the reintroduction of...

Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA's) iconic biodiversity is of immense potential global value but is jeopardized by increasing anthropogenic pressures. Elevated consumption in wealthier countries and the demands of international corporations manifest in significant resource extraction from SSA. Biodiversity in SSA also faces increasing domestic pressures,...

Human–wildlife conflict is becoming a serious threat for both wildlife conservation and human well-being. Its main representations are livestock predation and crop raiding. This chapter examines the problem of crop raiding by wildlife and its socio-economic implications around Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in northern Benin. Data were collected in 201...

Incorporating genetics in management decisions for the translocation of lions Panthera leo

Background Previous phylogeographic studies of the lion (Panthera leo) have improved our insight into the distribution of genetic variation, as well as a revised taxonomy which now recognizes a northern (Panthera leo leo) and a southern (Panthera leo melanochaita) subspecies. However, existing whole range phylogeographic studies on lions either con...

Conservation translocations have become an important management tool, particularly for large wildlife species such as the lion (Panthera leo). When planning translocations, the genetic background of populations needs to be taken into account; failure to do so risks disrupting existing patterns of genetic variation, ultimately leading to genetic hom...

Identification and assessment of the influence of socio-cultural beliefs in the perception of ecosystem services values are increasingly important for the management of forest resources. In this paper, we present a comparative study of local perceptions of the diversity of ecosystem services, values and priorities between communities living near sa...

Diet plays an important role in satisfying the vital needs of most animal species, including Phacochoerus africanus and Potamochoerus porcus, two suids found in Benin. It is also a determining factor in the habitats selection in protected areas. We identify the preferred habitats and detect the diet of the red river hog and the common warthog throu...

The conservation of wildlife populations requires regular studies for effective monitoring. However, although necessary, these studies are difficult to implement, particularly in the developing countries where the lack of financial resources and appropriate material are felt. Nowadays, the use of drones has grown steadily, opening up new avenues fo...

Introduction Human-wildlife conflicts represent a critical threat to several wildlife species as well as human beings worldwide (Bhattacharjee & Parthasarathy, 2013). Understanding these conflicts is necessary to guaranty a better coexistence between human and wildlife and an improved conservation of wildlife species. The current research aims at a...

Cet article fournit une évaluation de l'état de la mise en œuvre de la CITES en Afrique de l'Ouest synthétisée à partir de 26 memoires de masters couvrant 13 pays entre 2016 et 2019. L'article examine la répartition des pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest en termes de catégories de conformité législative avec la CITES, mais examine également l'environnement...

This article provides an assessment of the status of CITES implementation in West Africa synthesized from 26 Masters thesis covering 13 countries between 2016 and 2019. The article looks at the distribution of West African countries into categories of legislative compliance with CITES, but also looks at the institutional environment, constraints to...

The study aimed at identifying the drivers and dynamics of the land use/land cover around the ecotourism hotspots of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic on temporal and proximity scales. Field observation, remote sensing and geographic information technology were employed. ASTER satellite imageries (2002 and 2015) were subjected to image pre-pro...

Bien que l'autruche soit élevée en captivité durant de nombreuses années, son comportement a fait l'objet d'une attention limitée. L'étude a permis d'observer, de décrire, d'inventorier et de quantifier les divers paramètres des comportements du Struthio camelus australis élevé en captivité dans un ranch privé au nord-ouest du Bénin dans le but d'é...

Background Previous phylogeographic studies of the lion ( Panthera leo ) have improved our insight into the distribution of genetic variation, as well as a revised taxonomy which now recognizes a northern ( Panthera leo leo ) and a southern ( Panthera leo melanochaita ) subspecies. However, existing whole range phylogeographic studies on lions eith...

The study aimed at determining the degree and determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park, Benin. Four hundred households in fourteen host communities of the Park were subjected to direct household survey through multistage sampling technique. Forest Dependency Indices were computed to de...

The study aimed at determining the degree and determinants of host communities' socioeconomic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park, Benin. Four hundred households in fourteen host communities of the Park were subjected to direct household survey through multistage sampling technique. Forest Dependency Indices were computed to det...

The study aimed at determining the degree and determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park, Benin. Four hundred households in fourteen host communities of the Park were subjected to direct household survey through multistage sampling technique. Forest Dependency Indices were computed to de...

La mangrove est une forêt littorale, des régions côtières, tropicales et subtropicales, caractérisée par la présence de palétuviers, arbres dont les racines en forme d’échasses s’enfoncent dans la vase limoneuse des estuaires et des lagunes saumâtres. La mangrove est formée d’espèces d’arbres diversifiées comme les rhizophores et palétuviers qui se...

Background The habitat degradation together with fragmentation and illegal hunting represent a major threat for biodiversity conservation in Lama protected areas. Method We used a combination of questionnaire survey with local communities for ranking the hunted mammal species as bushmeat and track surveys in gridded-cell system of 500x500 m ² (n=2...

A la suite du livre « Habitats and plant species of the Biosphere Reserve of Pendjari », ce livre est le deuxième de la série d’outils didactiques importants pour le suivi de la dynamique des habitats de la Réserve de Biosphère de la Pendjari (RBP). Les principaux habitats des espèces animales de la RBP ont été présentés, l’usage du feu comme out...

Human-wildlife conflicts are any interactions between human and wildlife with a negative impact for both parties. Understanding these conflicts is necessary to guaranty a better coexistence between human and wildlife and an improvement of wildlife conservation. The current research aims at assessing human-wildlife conflicts and analyzing the manage...

Large predators in West Africa are threatened with extinction mainly by direct and indirect effects of human activities. Within this context, intraguild competition can limit populations of some species and even play a role in extinction. In this study, we used camera trapping to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of niche partitioning betwee...

The common hippopotamus is among the wildlife species most responsible of human-wildlife in Africa. The species conservation should then include an improved management of conflicts with humans. In order to better appraise human-hippopotamus conflicts in Adjamè community reserve in south-eastern Benin, a survey was conducted in the neighboring settl...

The cheetah has experienced a dramatic decline in its distribution, with an adult and adolescent population of 7100 individuals remaining in the wild. Southern and eastern Africa have the largest populations, whereas west, central, and northern Africa have considerably smaller populations as a regional total. In Asia cheetahs are critically endange...

Lion survey results in the WAP. Columns 1–5 are taken from Bouché et al. [1] and columns 6–7 are from their original survey report, the other columns show our original calculations. Note that distance to water is not a significant factor at the level of individual Hunting Zones and therefore we calculated estimates without stratification, which exp...

Les écosystèmes et les aires protégées en particulier fournissent d’importants services aux communautés locales, services qui représentent des motivations pour la conservation des ressources naturelles. La présente recherche a été conduite dans la Réserve de Biosphère de la Pendjari au Nord-Bénin dans le but d’identifier les services écosystémiques...

Small carnivores, important members of ecosystems are poorly studied in Africa. In order to fill this gap, we camera trapped 103 sites in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, West Africa. The specific objectives were to assess the species richness in the small carnivore guild and whether the land use system affect this diversity. For a total trapping effort...

Significance Here, we compile and present the most comprehensive data available on cheetah distribution and status. Our analysis shows dramatic declines of cheetah across its distributional range. Most cheetah occur outside protected areas, where they are exposed to multiple threats, but there is little information on population status. Simulation...

Understanding the role of termite mounds in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a priority for the management of tropical terrestrial protected areas dominated by savannahs. This study aimed to assess the effects of termite mounds on the diversity of plant functional types (PFTs) and herbaceous' net aboveground primary productivity (NAPP) in...

In Table 1, the information in the “Source msat data” column is incorrect for the “Zambia” row. Please see the corrected Table 1 here. Table 1 Overview of lion populations included in this study.

The evolutionary history of a species is key for understanding the taxonomy and for the design of effective management strategies for species conservation. The knowledge about the phylogenetic position of the lion (Panthera leo) in West/Central Africa is largely based on mitochondrial markers. Previous studies using mtDNA only have shown this regio...

Anthropogenic disturbances and climatic variations are presumed to alter species population structures. In this study,we assessed the population structure of the endangered species, Afzelia africana across gradients of climate and human disturbances. Dendrometric variables such as regeneration and tree density, mean diameter, basal area and height...

Lion populations have undergone a severe decline in West Africa. As baseline for conservation management, we assessed the group structure of lions in the Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in Benin. This reserve, composed of one National Park and two Hunting Zones, is part of the WAP transboundary complex of protected areas. Overall mean group size was 2.6...

Human-wildlife conflicts represent one of the main threats to wildlife conservation worldwide. In West Africa, the last giraffe population use farmed zones in the vicinity of villages in southern Niger, favoring human-giraffe conflicts. With the human population growth and the almost exponential growth of the giraffe population, it is necessary to...

Conservationists often advocate for landscape approaches to wildlife management while others argue for physical separation between protected species and human communities, but direct empirical comparisons of these alternatives are scarce. We relate African lion population densities and population trends to contrasting management practices across 42...

Close proximity between humans and large predators results in high levels of conflict. We investigated the extent of, and factors leading to, this conflict through focal group and individual interviews in all villages around Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, northern Benin. Livestock losses from 2000 to 2007 (n = 752) were reported to be mainly caused by...

Aim In recent decades there has been a marked decline in the numbers of African lions (Panthera leo), especially in West Africa where the species is regionally endangered. Based on the climatological history of western Africa, we hypothesize that West and Central African lions have a unique evolutionary history, which is reflected by their genetic...

The lion (Panthera leo) is most threatened in West and Cen-tral Africa; livestock encroachment and indiscriminate killing of lions are the main threats. Human-lion conflict mitigation is therefore key to persistence. Several experiments were car-ried out in the region to assess and mitigate human-lion con-flict. In Pendjari National Park in Benin,...

"In most West African regions, phytodiversity is under a great threat due to the increasing human impact and changing climatic conditions. In Benin and especially in Pehunco, Sinende and Kouande commune, we notice that desertification phenomena is become more and more important and vegetation is mainly composed of savannahs with trees of small size...